


In The Wake of Abuse

by XanAugust



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Blind Character, Blind Harry, Blind!Harry, Drarry, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Sirius Black, Hurt Harry, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Injury, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Pansmione - Freeform, Permanent Injury, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Queer Themes, Sirius Black Lives, Trans Character, Trauma, canon compliant until end of 4th year, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-06-30 18:49:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 38,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15757605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XanAugust/pseuds/XanAugust
Summary: The Dursley's have always hated Harry Potter, but when he returns from his 4th year at Hogwarts with night terrors, they are less than pleased to be woken up by their nephew's screams each night. Vernon attacks Harry, who ends up in a muggle hospital with some serious injuries, one of which may be permanent.





	1. Chapter 1: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 1 CW: Night terrors, child abuse, alcohol, blood.

**Chapter 1: Harry**

 

**** After fourth year Harry had returned to the Dursleys with horrible night terrors. The Dursleys had never liked him, and had beaten him within an inch of his life more times than he’d like to remember. However, now that he woke the entire house up nightly, screaming things like “don’t kill Cedric!” they seemed to hate him more than ever. On the fifth night of this, Vernon had been fed up. He stomped down the hall, unlocked the door to the home’s smallest bedroom, and grabbed a screaming Harry from his bed by the collar of his shirt. Vernon threw Harry’s sleeping body across the room and Harry woke up upon hitting the wall and sliding onto the floor. The wind was knocked out of him and he was gasping for air as he saw his uncle’s hand fly up. He was too disoriented to stop the blow from connecting with his face. He had only time to think vaguely about how glad he was his glasses weren’t on, as they would surely have broken, before the next blow hit him. 

“Some of us are trying to sleep! You ungrateful little leech!” His uncle bellowed as his foot connected with Harry’s ribs. 

 

After Vernon had worn himself out, he shuffled back to bed, slamming Harry’s door closed and locking him in his room. Exhausted, Harry passed out on the floor of his room and only woke when the morning light reached his face. He peeled his eyes open only to realize one of them was practically swollen shut. He tried to assess the damage of the night before. Several bruised ribs, a broken nose, a black eye, and a few more miscellaneous bruises. He’d had worse, but at the moment that thought was hardly comforting. Since his trunk, wand, and broom were locked in the cupboard under the stairs, he had no way to heal himself or even treat the wounds by muggle means. All that was in his room was Dudley’s old twin bed and night stand and Uncle Vernon’s old dresser, holding Harry’s too-big hand-me-down clothes from Dudley. Atop the dresser sat Harry’s only connection to the Wizarding world, his owl Hedwig. She eyed him wearily and he smiled as he pet her through the gaps in her locked cadge. 

“It’s alright Hedwig, we just have to get through a few short months and we’re back to Hogwarts. It’ll all be okay” he said, talking more to himself than to his owl. 

 

After thinking all day on how best to stay out of trouble with his new night terror predicament, he decided not to let himself fall asleep, so as to avoid waking the Dursleys the following night. 

 

Two days later, he had yet to sleep and could hardly keep his eyes open as he made breakfast for the Dursleys. Vernon’s eyes followed him overtop his newspaper, as if waiting for him to make a mistake. Harry lifted the frying pan to put more bacon on the table but in his state of exhaustion, tripped over one of the legs of the table. He and the pan went toppling to the ground and he let out a yell as the scorching hot pan burned his chest when he landed on it. 

“First you wake us up five nights in a row, and now you ruin breakfast!? Get up and clean up this mess this instant!” Uncle Vernon boomed. Harry scrambled to clean up and was locked in his bedroom as soon as he finished. He couldn’t quite remember the last time he himself had eaten. Perhaps because it had been a long time or perhaps because he couldn’t think properly and was on the verge of passing out. 

 

_____

About a month later, things were going much the same for Harry as his first week of summer break. He hadn’t seen a calendar lately, but he figured it was around the 25th of July. He attempted to lie on his back but jumped in pain, having forgotten about the belt lashing he had received two days prior. Vernon seemed to have taken up Dudley’s favorite game of Harry hunting, now that he was no longer getting enough sleep due to Harry’s night terrors. Harry was still sleeping as little as possible, but it hardly helped Uncle Vernon’s mood. Tonight, when Vernon stumbled into Harry’s room, he could smell the whiskey on his uncle’s breath. 

“Boy!” Uncle Vernon shouted as he advanced on Harry.

Harry jumped off the bed and backed into the wall, trying to predict the larger man’s next move. 

“Yes, Uncle Vernon?” he answered, searching for an escape. 

“I didn’t make that sale today at work,” he slurred. “Ya know why?” Harry stayed silent.

“It’s cuz I ain’t been gettin’ enough sleep. Now why’s that, ya think?” Harry swallowed. 

“I said why’s that!?” he bellowed.

“Er, because of me?” Harry practically whispered.

“Speak up, boy!”

“Because of me” Harry said louder.

“That’s right. An’ ya know my work’s important, don’t ya?”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry. I’ll be quieter.”

“Damn right ya will!” Vernon yelled as he lunged for Harry.

 

It was hours later when Harry woke on the floor of his room in a puddle of something that smelled suspiciously like blood. The lights were off and it must have been night, because his room was pitch black. Harry tried to get up off the floor but putting any pressure on his left leg caused him excruciating pain. He used his arms to drag himself across the room to the door and reached for the light switch. He couldn’t reach it from the floor and had to painstakingly pull himself up, using the doorknob for leverage. When his fingers found the light switch he flicked it on. Nothing happened. He flicked it on and off a few more times before giving up. The light must have burned out. He eventually made his way to his bed and decided he would have to wait until morning to check on his wounds. He woke to Aunt Petunia yelling at him to get up. Opening his eyes, he still saw nothing.

“What time is it?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“It’s 8:30. Your door was unlocked half an hour ago and you should have breakfast ready by now!” she demanded in her shrill voice. 

“8:30 in the morning? But it’s still dark outside.” Harry confusedly replied.

“Open your eyes boy, it’s been light out for hours.” Petunia stomped across his room and threw the curtains of his barred windows open. 

Harry closed his eyes not ready to be assaulted by the morning light, but when he opened them there was still only darkness. His stomach dropped. 

“I-I don’t understand.” He muttered, “I can’t- I can’t see anything!” 

He heard Petunia walk towards him and flinched away. He heard a sharp intake of breath. 

“What is it? What’s going on?” He demanded, fear bubbling up inside him.


	2. Chapter 2: Petunia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 2 CW: Child abuse, blood.

**Chapter 2: Petunia**

 

Petunia awoke at 8:00, as she did every morning. She walked down the hall and unlocked Harry’s door, knowing the sun would wake him soon if it had not already. Then she grabbed a towel from the hall closet and took a long, hot shower. She dressed in her room and walked downstairs expecting to see Harry preparing breakfast. However, the kitchen was empty. She looked at a clock on the wall and saw that it read 8:28 AM. Sighing in frustration she made her way back up the stairs and opened the door to Harry’s room while yelling that he needed to get his lazy ass out of bed. When he woke up he looked confused, but she was hardly paying attention, thinking of all the things she needed to get done that day. 

“What time is it?” she heard Harry ask.

She told him the time and said he should have breakfast ready, and when he said it was still dark outside she lost her patience. As she stomped over to the window she thought about how she certainly did not have time for all this nonsense. Near the window she stepped in something sticky and looked down to see a large dark red puddle on the hardwood floor. 

“I-I don’t understand.” She heard Harry say quietly, “I can’t- I can’t see anything!” 

Petunia turned and took a few steps towards him, truly looking at him for the first time that morning. As she drew near, he flinched back and she gasped taking in his appearance. The bedsheets had turned red beneath him. His hair was matted with blood and there were cuts on his face. His leg was also sticking out at an odd angle, and his eyes were out of focus and searching around the room frantically. 

“What is it? What’s going on?” Harry demanded, and Petunia felt sick.

 

Sure, Petunia had never liked the boy, and she had even struck him a few times herself, but the last beating her husband must have given him had gone too far. 

“Er, Harry dear,” she said, trying to sound comforting in a way she had never spoken to him before. “Let's get you into the bathroom and take a look at those wounds. 

Harry looked terrified upon hearing her change in tone and scooted further back on his bed, towards the wall. 

 

A while later she had managed to sit him down on the bathroom floor leaning up against the wall. She gave him a wet washcloth to wipe the blood off his face while she looked at his leg. He sat silently and she was pretty sure he was in shock. She cleaned up his leg and when she put pressure on it, Harry didn’t even flinch. She recognized that as a bad sign.

“Harry?” she asked. 

There was no answer and he did not even look as though he had registered that someone was speaking to him. Petunia swallowed, not sure of what to do. If she took him to the hospital he could get her husband in trouble, but she was not seeing another viable option. 

“Harry?” she asked again, “Harry, listen to me. I think I need to take you to the hospital, but if anyone asks, I need you to say you fell down the stairs. Okay?” 

She was about to give up, thinking he hadn’t heard her, when he whispered “yes.”

She let out a shaky breath and lifted the light boy, taking him down the stairs and setting him in the back seat of her car after putting towels down to make sure he didn’t get blood on the seats. 


	3. Chapter 3: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 3 CW: Child abuse, PTSD, hospital.

**Chapter 3: Harry**

 

When Harry came to awareness, he registered the feeling of a stiff bed beneath him, the smell of sanitation, and the sound of a slow beeping. He blinked his eyes several times, but saw nothing. He sat silently until a nurse came in a few minutes later. 

“Hello, Harry?” a woman’s voice asked sweetly.

Harry swallowed and gave a shaky “hello.”

“Harry, glad to have you back with us.” 

“With us?” he parroted.

“Yes, you’ve been a bit out of it for the few days you’ve been here. I think this is the first time you have been fully cognizant. 

“What happened?” asked Harry, still confused but somehow not too afraid of the constant darkness which he still seemed to be in.

“Your aunt says you fell down the stairs,” the nurse said carefully, “do you remember what happened?” 

“No. I don’t remember falling. I don’t remember…” he trailed off not even sure where he was going with that.

“Harry, there’s something else. It’s just that your injuries don’t look like one’s you could have gotten falling down the stairs. And there are other marks, of older injuries. Is everything okay at home?”

“Home?” he asked. There was a nagging feeling on the edge of his awareness. Where was home? His brain was working slowly and it took him a while to figure out his thoughts. Home was Hogwarts. It was summer and he hadn’t been there in over a month. He had been staying at Privet Drive due to Dumbledore’s insistence that that was the best place for him. Privet Drive, what happened at Privet Drive? His eyes went wide and he gasped as he remembered the beatings and a vague memory of Aunt Petunia saying he had to tell the people at the hospital that he fell down the stairs.

“Harry?” the nurse asked again, sounding worried. 

A gentle hand touched his arm and he jumped, pulling his arm back as if it had been burned. “The stairs!” he muttered frantically. “The stairs, I-I fell. I fell down the stairs.” he got out in a panic.

“Shh, Harry. It’s okay. You’re safe here, okay?” the nurse tried to calm him down but he was hyperventilating. He heard a yell for help and heard footsteps as people ran into the room and he was pulled under, back to unconsciousness. 

 

_____

 

A few weeks passed in the hospital and Harry was starting to gain some weight back. He had been given sleeping medications for the night terrors, and his leg was casted as he waited for it to heal the muggle way. However, the doctors had told him that an intense hit to the back of the head had caused him to go blind, and that there was no cure. He had also started physical therapy, but learning to use a cane in a wheelchair was proving almost impossible. Today when he was wheeled to physical therapy by a nurse, he was told he was going to be trying something different. The previous day, he had been given a new cast. One he had been told he should be able to walk on. Someone attached crutches to his wrists and he was helped out of his chair. 

“Alright Harry, why don’t we try taking a few steps, using the crutches to support your weight. There is nothing in front of you, so just try and move forward.” the physical therapist said in his calm voice.

“Okay.” Harry agreed, nodding and trying to prepare himself. 

After an hour, he was exhausted, but he was confident in his ability to walk with the crutches, as long as someone was there to make sure he didn’t run into anything. 

 

Later that day, he sat in his hospital bed thinking of how much had changed so fast. He had returned to his Aunt and Uncle’s house after a traumatic year at Hogwarts. Instead of being able to rest up and regain his strength, he had been beaten, whipped, starved, isolated, and had ended up in a muggle hospital with a broken leg and absolutely no eyesight. He had not seen his Aunt or Uncle since waking up in the hospital, and did not even know how to go about getting in contact with the wizarding world from within a muggle hospital without breaking the statute of secrecy. 

 

One more week and he was able to walk with a crutch on his left arm and a white tipped cane in his right arm. He was not great at using the cane yet, and he still fell over a lot after losing his balance with the one crutch, but for the most part he could walk through the halls without running into people. 

 

On August 20th a confused nurse walked into his room and handed him a letter. He felt the wax seal with the Hogwarts crest on one side, and raised lines on the other side. He felt disappointment soak in that he had not yet learned braille, before realizing the raised bits were not bumps like braille, but raised letters. It took him an extraordinarily long time to read his letter, but eventually he had done it. He felt accomplished even though his fingers were sore and raw.

 

_____

 

Harry returned to his aunt and uncle’s house on August 29th after being released from the hospital. His uncle was at work when he got home, and his aunt unlocked the cupboard so he could get his belongings. Thankfully she had fed Hedwig while he had been gone. Harry opened his trunk and felt around for some parchment and a quill. After spilling a bit of ink, he wrote out what he could only imagine was an extraordinarily messy note.

 

_Professor Lupin,_

_ I didn’t know who else to ask, so could you please _

_ come to 4 Privet Drive to get me as soon as possible? _

_ Don’t tell anyone where you are going, I will explain _

_ everything when you get here. _

_ Thanks, _

_ Harry _

 

The note was a bit cryptic, but it would have to do. He was pretty sure Remus lived alone, and really did not want to deal with a lot of people at once, like he would have to if he told the Weasleys. He also knew Remus was logical and if anyone could help Harry, it was him. 


	4. Chapter 4: Remus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 4 CW: PTSD.

**Chapter 4: Remus**

 

It had only been two days since the full moon, and Remus did not fully have his strength back. He was drinking a cup of coffee when he heard pecking at the kitchen window. When he saw Harry’s white owl, he ran to open the window, hoping nothing was wrong. The note she bore was messy and some of the letters were on top of each other making it hard to read. As soon as he finished reading it, he grabbed his wand and disapparated. Remus marched up to number 4 Privet Drive and opened the front door without knocking. Harry was sitting in the living room and looked up when he entered the room. 

“Harry, what’s going on?” Remus asked as he hurried to get a proper look at the boy. 

Harry had a muggle medical boot on his left leg and two poles he assumed were crutches were laying on the floor in front of him. His frame was small and his cheeks looked like they had hollowed out and had recently begun to fill back in as Sirius’s had when he got out of Azkaban. 

“Professor Lupin?” Harry asked, not meeting his eyes.

“I’m not your professor anymore, Harry. You can call me Remus.” he replied softly.

“What happened to your leg?” he asked as he reached out to touch his arm, trying to get Harry to look at him.

The second his fingers made contact Harry’s eyes went wide and he jumped near a foot in the air.

“Woah, Harry it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Harry’s face was reddening with embarrassment. 

“Hey, look at me. It’s alright.” Harry flinched at the word ‘look’ but raised his head toward Remus’s voice, biting on his lip.

His eyes were unfocused and refused to meet Remus’s own as a terrifying thought occurred to Remus. 

“Harry?” he asked, fear gripping him, “can you see me?”

At this Harry closed his eyes, letting his head drop into his hands. Remus saw his head give the slightest shake of ‘no,’ and he had to remind himself to breath. 

“Harry, I’m going to take you home with me, okay?” 

Harry nodded, head still in his hands. Remus stood and shrunk Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s empty cage, before putting both in the pocket of his robes. He looked at the poles by Harry’s feet, realizing only one was a crutch, and the other was a white tipped muggle cane. After shrinking those and tucking them away as well, he turned to Harry who had not moved. 

Remus knelt down in front of Harry, “I’ve got all your things taken care of, but I am going to need to apparate us to my house. Can I touch you?” he asked quietly.

Harry jumped again at the thought of being touched and Remus’s heart broke. What had these muggles done to him?

“I’ll only need to touch you for a short moment to help you stand and apparate us and then I will help you sit down on the couch at my house, okay?” Harry tensed, then nodded. 

Remus rushed around to Harry’s left side, “okay, I’m going to touch your left arm now to help you stand, you can put it around my shoulder to support your weight, okay?” 

Another nod and Remus slowly helped the too-light 15-year-old to his feet. Once he had a careful hold on Harry, Remus turned on the spot and disapparated. 


	5. Chapter 5: Sirius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 5 CW: PTSD.

**Chapter 5: Sirius**

 

Sirius woke to find his bed lacking a certain werewolf, so he made his way to the kitchen. There he found a half-filled coffee mug and an open window. A cracking sound behind him told him Remus had just apparated into the home. He spun around to see his lover struggling to hold someone up in the sitting room. The mug fell from his hands and shattered as he yelled out,

“Remus?” then “Harry!” as he recognized the messy black hair.

He ran to help take Harry’s weight off of a struggling Remus, but the teen screamed and fought him.

“Harry! Harry, it’s okay, it’s me. It’s Sirius.” 

“Sirius! Set him down and back away.” Remus said as soon as he caught his breath. 

Sirius froze, confused, but lightly set harry on the floor. The boy instantly curled into a ball and Sirius backed up with his hands in the air. His gaze then shifted to Remus who was still not fully healed from the moon and moved towards him. 

“Moony, are you okay?” he asked quietly, and Remus’s rapidly blinking eyes found his as he took a shaky breath. He shook his head ‘no,’ but held a finger to his lips signaling to stay quiet. After another shaky breath Remus moved towards Harry who jumped and scooted away. 

“Harry” Remus said softly, “we’re at my house now. The person who touched you was Sirius. It's just him, you, and I here. Nobody is going to hurt you. Do you understand?”

Harry was rocking back and forth just slightly, but muttered a quiet “yes” in response. 

“The couch is about ten steps in front of you, do you think you can make it there? Or do you need help?”

“No! No help. I can do it.” Harry said quickly. 

Sirius watched on in confusion as harry slowly crawled towards the couch. He was heavily favoring his right side, and his left leg was in some sort of strange and very large boot. Harry kept his head down as he crawled, and when he hit the couch, he felt up it and clumsily pulled himself onto it before once again curling into a ball, this time on his side, closing his eyes, and instantly falling asleep.

Sirius shot Remus a glance that he hoped said ‘what the fuck?’ and Remus took out his wand and silently casted a bubble around the couch. Then he let out a sigh and collapsed from his sitting position, now laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling.

“Fuck” he said, before adding “Harry can’t hear us now, but we’ll be able to hear him if he needs something.”

At that, Sirius rushed to his lover’s side, “are you hurt?” he asked quickly.

Remus let out a mix between a laugh and a sob and said “no. I-I don’t think so. Not physically anyway. I’m exhausted and a bit shaky, but that’s to be expected so soon after the moon. I just couldn’t hold him up when his legs gave out after the apparition. I just- Merlin! We should have tried harder to convince Dumbledore to let us take him this summer!” Remus was yelling now face turning red with rage.

Sirius placed his hands on either side of Remus’s face and kissed his forehead. “Look at me, love. Whatever’s happened, we’ll take care of it, alright? Now you’ve just got to tell me what's going on, okay?”

Remus closed his eyes and after a few steadying breaths he answered, “alright, but we should take this somewhere a little more comfortable.” 

Sirius helped Remus up and led him to the loveseat across from the couch. They sat down and Sirius felt his blood run cold as Remus explained what had happened. 

“Blind!” Sirius yelled as he jumped up, “what do you mean blind?” 

“Sirius, sit down. And I mean blind, as in his eyes searched for my face, only inches from his, and he couldn’t see me.” 

“Where are his glasses?” Sirius asked suddenly, thinking that perhaps he couldn’t see Remus because his glasses were missing. 

He knew logically that he was grasping at straws, but he had to do something, so he looked for Harry’s glasses as if they had fallen off in the living room. A hand touched his arm and pulled him back onto the seat.

“Sirius, It’s no use. If he’s blind, his glasses won’t help. Listen, I haven't examined him yet, so it’s true the blindness might not be total and it might not even be permanent, but I found him with a muggle cane for the blind, and they don’t just hand those out to people who’ve lost their glasses.” 

Sirius met his eyes as Remus continued “Listen, this is going to take some adjusting for all of us, but the important thing is that we are there for him and that we stay calm while in his presence. And that we make sure not to touch him unless he says it’s okay. Alright?”

“Yes, right. Of course.” Sirius breathed, looking back at Harry asleep on the couch. 


	6. Chapter 6: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 6 CW: Talk of injuries, PTSD.

**Chapter 6: Harry**

 

Harry awoke to the strange feeling of magic coursing through him. He opened his eyes and heard someone shifting next to him.

“Harry,” came Remus’s calm voice “I’m just casting a quick diagnostic charm to see what we’re working with here. Okay?”

“Yeah.” Harry answered, his voice rough. After clearing his throat, he added “could I please have some water?” 

“Of course,” Remus said, “Sirius, could you get Harry a glass of water please?”

A second passed and Sirius’s voice joined Remus’s, “Right, yes. Water. I’ll be right back.”

“Remus?” Harry asked thinking of how he had chosen to contact Remus because he thought he lived alone.

“Hmm?” Remus hummed.

“Er, why is Sirius here? Does he live here too?”

A moment of silence passed before Remus cleared his throat uncomfortably. 

“Well, uh. Harry. About that, er… Sirius and I. Well yes, we are living together and” Remus sighed, “I’m making this into more of an awkward mess than it needs to be, aren't I?” 

Harry could hear the embarrassment in his voice, and it confused him. What was so embarrassing about living with Sirius. Lots of people have roommates. He thought perhaps it was because they were adults, and it was a bit uncommon for adults to have roommates. 

“We’re together” came Sirius’s voice as Harry heard a glass of water being sat down on the coffee table. 

“Together?” Harry asked, confused “Like together like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are together?” 

Harry heard Remus chuckle, “well we aren’t married, but yes we are together like that. Sirius is my boyfriend.”

“Oh!” Harry felt his face growing hot.

“Is that okay with you?” Remus asked.

“Well, yeah. Of course, it is. I guess I just didn’t know two blokes could be together like that.”

Sirius let out a short bark of a laugh and Harry tried not to flinch at the loud sound.

“It’s not all that common” Sirius was saying, “but it’s not unheard of for two blokes or two birds to be together. Sometimes it's even more than two people, but that’s a talk we can have another day.” Harry could hear the smile in Sirius’s voice and it calmed him.

“Remus?” Harry asked, “what did that scan show?”

“Are you sure you’re ready to hear all of this?” Remus responded after a moment.

“Yes.” Harry answered. “I really am okay, you know. I’m sorry if I scared you yesterday. I was really overwhelmed and I was panicking and so exhausted. But whatever the scan showed, I can handle it. I swear.”

“Alright,” Remus responded and Harry heard Sirius straighten up, waiting for the news.

“Your leg is broken in two places, but is healing well. It seems your nose is broken and has been for quite some time. You have two broken ribs, which remain broken because muggles can’t fix broken ribs, they can only wait for them to heal. You have intense scarring on your back and some of those wounds have reopened, so I will have to take a look at that. You were recently extremely malnourished and are only just starting to get back on the right track with that. You haven’t been getting enough sleep, and you are completely blind.” Remus listed, voice catching slightly on the last word. 

Harry only nodded. He had been expecting that. 

“How much of that can you fix with magic?” Harry asked, trying not to get his hopes up.

“I can fix your leg, but you might have a limp because most of the healing has been done the muggle way. I can fix your nose and ribs. As I said, I will need to take a look at your back to figure out further what is going on there. There are potions I can give you for malnutrition and sleep.” Remus’s voice cut off, “I’m sorry Harry, but I think your vision is gone for good. We can take you to St. Mungo's to check, but I don’t think they will be able to restore your sight.” 

Harry bit his lip, nodding his head and willing his eyes to remain dry. 

“Okay.” he said after a minute or two. “Okay, would you mind handing me the water?”

He heard Remus pick up the glass. “Can I touch your hand to show you where it is?”

Harry nodded, preparing himself. When Remus’s hand touched his, he felt his hand flinch away against his will, but bit his lip and held his hand back out again. This time he was able to keep contact with Remus’s hand as Remus pressed Harry’s hand onto the glass. Harry drank the entire glass of water before looking back in the direction of Remus and holding the glass back out for him to take. He jumped a bit when Remus took the glass from him, but he was determined to get past this fear of being touched. 

“Remus?” Harry asked again, “would you mind fixing everything you can for me now? I just want to get it all over with.”

“I will try. I’m a bit weak from the last full moon, but I will do everything I can.” 

Harry felt bad for forgetting about Remus’s condition. He had no idea when the last full moon was, but it must have been pretty recent. Remus was unwell and should probably have been resting and Harry just assumed he could drop everything and help him. Maybe the Dursleys were right. He was a burden. 

“Harry?” Remus’s voice broke past his inner thoughts and his head snapped up towards where Remus was sitting.

“I’m sorry.” Harry said softly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Harry. I care about you, so don’t ever believe that you’re putting me out.” Remus seemed to know exactly what he had been thinking, “I’m perfectly fine and I can rest after I help you. My strength won’t take long to return. So, let’s start in on those bones, alright?”

Harry nodded and Remus and Sirius pretended not to notice the tears Harry quickly wiped away. 


	7. Chapter 7: Sirius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 7 CW: Description of past child abuse, description of injuries.

**Chapter 7: Sirius**

 

Sirius silently watched the way Remus talked to Harry, saying all the right things. He wondered for the thousandth time if he really had what it took to be a parent. It was clear Remus did, and he only hoped he could learn quickly. 

He watched in awe as Remus easily fixed Harry’s nose and ribs. 

“Okay, now I would like to take a look at your back, if that’s alright?” Remus softly asked Harry who had taken the pain of bone mending in stride.

“Er, right.” Harry said slowly, “just, don’t freak out, okay? And er, is Sirius still here?” 

“I’m here” Sirius said as it hit him once more that Harry couldn’t see him.

Harry looked towards Sirius with his unfocused eyes, “I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything,” Sirius replied.

“Just, promise me you won’t go after the Dursleys. I don’t want you getting locked up again. Okay?”

“Okay,” Sirius said softly, “I promise.” 

Sirius felt sick to his stomach just trying to imagine what must be under the young boy’s shirt that made him think Sirius would take one look and rush off to attack the Dursleys. 

He watched Harry nod and then swallow, as he pulled his shirt off over his head, biting his lip again. 

Sirius gasped and Harry froze. He hadn’t even turned around yet to show them his back, but his front alone was haunting. Sirius reached out a hand as if to touch the large angry red ring burned into his flesh, but Remus grabbed his wrist to stop him. There was faded bruising in several places, and old and new scars littered his skin. 

“What-what are you looking at? I-I haven’t turned around yet.” Harry stated, a confused look on his face as he ran his hands down his chest. 

His fingers found the raised ring and Harry froze again. 

“Oh,” he said simply. “I-I was making them breakfast but I was so tired and I tripped. I-I fell on the frying pan…” he trailed off as if he wasn’t sure what to say.

“Harry, I’m so sorry. We should never have let you stay with them-” Sirius started.

“-It’s fine Sirius, don’t worry. It’s over,” he said before a terrified look passed over his face, “it is over, isn’t it? I’m not going back there. Am I?” 

“Harry, you will never have to go back there. Not ever again, you hear me?” Sirius demanded as his voice broke with emotion. 

Harry nodded quickly as silent tears started to flow down his face. 

“I-I suppose I’ll just turn around then, so Remus can continue healing me.” Harry said softly, as if afraid to let them see his back.

He slowly turned around and Sirius choked on a sob. Remus went rigid beside him and seemed to forget to breath. Sirius took his hand and looked into his lover’s sad eyes. He took a deep breath and Remus followed his lead. Once Sirius was sure Remus was breathing properly, he turned back to Harry.

There was hardly any skin on Harry’s back that was left unscarred. Most of the wounds looked as though they had come from a belt and Sirius flinched under the memory of his own father’s belt striking his bare back, so many years ago. It was clear that Mr. Dursley had whipped Harry far more than his father had ever whipped him. 

The most recent wounds looked to be about a month old and Sirius figured they must have been reopened when Harry and Remus apparated to the house.

It seemed Remus had reached the same conclusion, as his grip tightened on Sirius’s hand and a few tears fell down his face. Remus raised his wand and Sirius watched him put everything he had into cleaning and sealing the wounds. By the end, Remus could hardly hold his wand up.

“Remus,” Sirius found himself saying, “that’s enough for now. Let’s get you to bed.”

Remus’s wand arm fell and his head hung as he realized he had used all his energy and didn’t even have enough left to stand up on his own. 

“Harry, you can put your shirt back on. I’ll be right back.” Sirius said as he stood up and bent down in front of Remus. 

Sirius let out a small groan as he lifted Remus bridal style and carried him from the room. He laid Remus’s thin form on their bed and kissed his forehead as he saw Remus’s eyes flutter closed. Sirius pulled the blankets up over Remus’s unconscious body, turned out the light, and closed the door. Then he went straight to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. Looking at his tired eyes in the mirror, he took a few deep breaths and headed back towards the sitting room. 


	8. Chapter 8: Remus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 8 has no content warnings.

**Chapter 8: Remus**

 

When Remus came to, he heard laughter ringing from down the hall. He smiled, knowing Sirius had been nervous to find himself as a parental figure. Remus had known he could do it, and he supposed that him being out of the picture for a short time had helped force Sirius to figure it out. Short time, Remus flinched. How long had he been out? He tried to push himself out of bed but found he was too weak to do so. He reached over and found his wand on his nightstand before sending a less than corporeal Patronus to fetch Sirius. A moment later Sirius rushed through the door, turning on the light and coming to Remus’s side instantly.

“How’re you doing, Moons?” Sirius asked rather frantically.

“Siri, ‘m fine.” Remus breathed out. “How’s Harry?” he asked.

Sirius smiled, “he’s doing really well, Moonshine. Your healing worked wonders,” he finished proudly.

“How long I been out?”

Sirius swallowed, smile fading “Er, three days.”

“Three! Three days?” Remus gasped, “fuck” he said succinctly. 

“It’s September 1st, but don’t worry, I’ve already sent an owl to Hogwarts so they know not to expect Harry back right away for the start of term. Minerva is going to floo over tonight after the sorting to check up on him. I didn’t go into details in the letter, just said he’s hurt and staying with us until he is well enough to go back to school.”

“Thanks, Pads,” Remus sighed. “I’d like to move to the sitting room to talk to Harry, and to Minerva when she arrives. But, well, I can’t quite get up.” Remus stated, not wanting to worry Sirius further, but also knowing there was no way he could make it to the sitting room on his own. 

Sirius’s eyes went wide and it was a moment before he responded.

“Can you sit forward so I can pick you up?”

Remus had hoped to avoid telling Sirius he didn’t have the physical strength to even sit up, but there was no way around that now.

“Er, I tried to sit up before you came in and I couldn’t... but I can give it another go?” 

“Shit,” Sirius muttered, “shit, Remus. You’re really not well. Fuck! I had no idea how close I came to losing you. You should stay in bed and rest more. I can send an owl to Minerva to bring Pomfrey when she comes-”

“Sirius,” Remus forced his voice to sound as strong as he could manage. “I’m not on my deathbed. Please just take me to the sitting room. You can send for Pomfrey if you wish. It’d be good to have her look at Harry anyway. But listen to me, I’ve been worse. I’ll be fine in a few days’ time. Just promise me you won’t let on to Harry how poorly I am.”

Sirius bit his lip hard, thinking. But after a few moments he said, “fine. I promise I won’t tell Harry, and I’ll try and figure out how to get you to the sitting room, but Pomfrey will certainly be coming to take a look at both you and Harry.”

“Siri, are you a wizard or not? You could just levitate me into the room and onto a chair.”

“Right,” Sirius said, going pink, “but I’m putting you on the couch and you’re laying down.”

 

Remus closed his eyes for a last few moments of rest, as Sirius floated him into the sitting room. Once Sirius had laid him down on the couch and fussed to make sure there were pillows properly supporting his neck, he opened his eyes. He was surprised to see Harry standing in the middle of the room, leaning on a crutch in his left hand and holding out the white tipped cane with his right. Sirius must have gone through Remus’s robes and found Harry’s things. 

 

Remus watched as Harry ran his cane back and forth, took a step, and repeated the process until his cane tapped the coffee table. 

“Coffee table, right Sirius?” Harry asked after a moment of contemplation. 

“That’s right, Prongslet! Told you you’d get it figured out eventually,” Sirius said smiling at Harry, “oh, and Remus is here, on the couch now if you’d like to talk to him. 

“Remus! You’re awake!” Harry’s unseeing eyes lit up as he used his cane and crutch to slowly make his way around the table and towards the couch. 

After a minute, Harry was sat in the wooden chair Sirius had pulled up next to the couch.

“How are you feeling, Remus?” Harry asked seriously.

“I’m alright, just tired.” Remus replied with a smile. “How are you doing?”

“So much better!” exclaimed Harry as he told Remus about being able to get around the room fairly decent on his own and about not being in much pain after Remus’s healing. 

“Oh! And guess what Padfoot and I discovered?” Remus watched as Harry smiled and reached out towards the couch. He ran his hand across the couch until it connected with Remus’s shoulder. Then Harry’s hand followed Remus’s arm until he found his hand and held onto it.

“I can do physical contact! But only if I’m the one to touch someone else, not the other way around.”

“That’s wonderful Harry,” Remus said, squeezing Harry’s hand gently. 

They talked for a little bit longer before Sirius came over and told Remus he needed to get some more rest before Minerva arrived. 


	9. Chapter 9: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 9 CW: Internalized homophobia, homophobic language.

**Chapter 9: Draco**

 

After the sorting, Draco looked around the Great Hall. He sized up the new first-year Slytherins, and threw a sneer at the Gryffindors for good measure. Scanning the Gryffindor table, his eyes found an extremely anxious looking Granger speaking quickly with Weasley. He did not, however, see Harry Potter. For a moment, he felt a pang of worry that Potter was missing, before reminding himself that he shouldn’t care. Draco forced himself to tear his eyes away from Granger and Weasley, but Pansy had already noticed him looking. 

“Ooo, looks like someone’s crush is missing.” she said playfully.

“Shut up. I don’t have a crush, Parkinson.” Draco bit back menacingly.

“Oh really?” she asked, feigning thoughtfulness, “then why are you so obsessed with him?”

“I’m not!” Draco practically yelled, before whispering, “Merlin, Pansy! Just shut up! We can talk later. Just  _ not here _ ,” he emphasized the last two words harshly. 

She kicked his leg under the table and smirked, but changed the subject. 

 

Draco kept a discreet eye on Granger and Weasley for the remainder of the feast, as he talked with the other Slytherins. As soon as students were starting to rise from their seats, He saw Granger and Weasley heading purposefully towards the front table. Draco followed them and stood at the end of the Slytherin table, pretending to have dropped something. 

Behind him he heard Granger’s voice, “Professor, please. Where is Harry? We didn’t hear from him all Summer, and now he’s missed the train and the opening feast. Do you know what’s happened to him?”

McGonagall’s tight voice replied, “unfortunately, at this time, all I know is that Mr. Potter is not yet ready to return to Hogwarts. I am on my way to meet with him right now. If he gives me permission to inform you of the details I will call you to my office.” 

Of course, Draco thought as he walked back along the table, having heard everything he needed to. Potter was probably just taking an extended holiday, and the professors allowed it because he’s the bloody golden boy. Draco wondered briefly if Potter was unwell, but shook that thought from his head as it didn’t matter anyway. Potter was supposed to be his enemy. 

 

Later that evening, Draco walked into the Slytherin common room. He scanned the room before relaxing, Pansy wasn’t there. He felt lighter as he walked down the hall to the boy’s dormitories. Draco opened the door to his dorm and saw Blaise, Greg, and Vincent’s beds empty. He closed the door and walked towards his bed. However, upon opening the hangings he saw Pansy sat in the middle of his bed, smiling in a way that made Draco uneasy. 

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” he groaned as he joined her. 

“Well,” she said seriously, “we don’t really talk as much as we used to, so I figured I’d revive our old Friday night tradition,” she smiled as she dramatically added, “of heart to hearts and gossiping on your bed while you plait my hair, or let me paint your fingernails.” 

“It’s a Tuesday, and I thought I told you never to speak of that last bit.” He sneered, getting up to ensure the bathroom was empty and that they really were alone. 

Once he was sure his roommates were out, he got back on the bed and pulled the emerald hangings closed. He muttered one charm to ensure nobody outside the hangings of his bed could hear them, and another to make a dinging sound only he and Pansy would hear if the door to the dorm opened.

Pansy smiled sheepishly as she pulled small glass of deep green fingernail polish out of her robes. 

Draco rolled his eyes, “this was cute when we were 12 Pansy, but we’re 15 now. I’m not going to let you paint my fingernails.” 

She gave her most manipulative pout and he laughed, “that’s very Slytherin of you, but I’m not going to fall for it.” 

Ten minutes later, Pansy was painting Draco’s thumb nail as she spoke, “Draco, I know you think you have to do this stupid act to convince everyone that you think you’re better than them, like a ‘proper Malfoy’” she said with air quotes, “but you can drop the act in front of me. We’ve known each other since birth, and I know you don’t buy into all of that blood purity and propriety bullshit.”

“Pansy.” Draco warned. 

“Don’t do that! Don’t shut me out. How come you can never just tell the bloody truth?” she was getting progressively more upset, “I know you used to love it when I did your nails, and that you didn’t go scrub it off in the bathroom afterwards like you said you did. I know you’d just put on a glamour charm to hide the paint, and then took the charm down when you thought you were alone!” And I  _ know _ you have a thing for Harry Potter!” she yelled. 

“You can trust me, Draco. Just  _ talk _ to me.” 

“What do you want?” he yelled, “do you want me to say I’m a bloody poofter! Is that what you want to hear? Cuz that’s what I fucking am! Draco fucking Malfoy, the family disappointment!”

“I’m gay too, you know.” Draco almost didn’t hear her.

“Merlin, I’m sorry Pansy.” Draco said deflating, “I-I didn’t know, I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“Yeah,” she laughed coldly, “you only meant to insult yourself. Listen, this self-hatred thing is getting really old. Why don’t we just call a truce and promise to be ourselves when we’re alone together.” 

Draco thought for a moment, then conceded “okay. In that case,” he said looking up at her with a small smile, “could you finish painting my nails?” 


	10. Chapter 10: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 10 CW: PTSD.

**Chapter 10: Harry**

 

Harry was sitting on the loveseat talking to Sirius when he the floo sounded to his right and he jumped. He felt the seat shift as Sirius stood up. 

Professor McGonagall’s voice rang loud and clear as she demanded to know why Harry wasn’t at Hogwarts.

“Please do keep your voice down Minerva, Remus is sleeping.” Harry heard Sirius insist quietly. 

“Madame Pomfrey, would you mind checking on Remus. Don’t wake him up, maybe just do a scan and make sure he’s okay?” Sirius whispered, no doubt hoping Harry couldn’t hear him. 

However, Harry’s hearing was much sharper now that he could no longer rely on his eyes. Harry wondered if there was something wrong with Remus and hoped to Merlin there wasn’t. He heard someone move towards the couch, and a minute later they moved back towards the fired place. 

“It seems Mr. Lupin has completely depleted his magical core. When did this happen?” Asked a familiar woman’s voice, Madame Pomfrey, Harry’s brain supplied.

“Three days ago, he only just woke up for the first time a few hours ago.” Sirius whispered.

“Three days? What on earth did he do to get into this state?”

“Well, that’s part of why you’re here. Remus tried to heal Harry two days after the full moon. He clearly overextended himself, and Harry still needs more healing” Sirius explained. 

“What’s wrong with Harry?” Professor McGonagall asked sharply. 

“I’m right here, you know,” Harry exclaimed, “and I’m far from deaf, as you well know, Sirius.” 

“Right,” came Sirius’s voice lined with guilt, “sorry, Harry. Er, Minerva perhaps we should wake Remus and let him explain. He’s the one who got Harry and casted the diagnostic charm on him.”

Harry heard movement and then Sirius’s quiet voice waking Remus up.

Once awake, Remus explained everything to Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey, from the broken bones, to the lashings, and the blindness. Soon the Hogwarts nurse was healing Harry’s leg. It hurt, but Harry hardly even flinched at the pain. 

“Alright, leave that boot on for two more days and then you should be able to walk just fine, but perhaps with a slight limp.” Madame Pomfrey explained.

“Thank you,” Harry smiled.

“Of course, dear,” came her calming voice, but just then a hand touched Harry’s own and his entire body flinched back.

“Harry?” she asked, but Harry’s body had been sent into a full panic.

He vaguely heard whispers and footsteps, before Sirius’s calm voice spoke from beside him.

“It’s alright Harry. Madame Pomfrey didn’t know not to touch you. She knows now, so nobody’s going to touch you. You’re safe. Do you hear me, Harry? You’re safe.”

Harry nodded his head and took a deep breath before relaxing slightly out of his stiff posture. Then his face started to grow warm with embarrassment, rightly figuring that everyone was watching him.

“Er, I’m fine. Sorry, just- could everyone just stop looking at me please?”

He heard Sirius stand up and walk back towards the fireplace. 

“I see that it will be a while before Harry is ready to go back to school. In the meantime, I can send over a different professor each weekday to keep him up to date on the coursework.” Professor McGonagall spoke softly to Sirius.

“Oh, and Potter,” McGonagall added more loudly, “Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley have noticed your absence. What should I tell them?” 

“Right. Well, I-I’m not quite sure. I don’t want to worry them but... do you think they could floo over this weekend? So that I can explain everything to them?”

“Of course, I will send them over after classes on Friday,” McGonagall said simply.

Madame Pomfrey promised to return soon with potions for both Harry and Remus. Then she and Professor McGonagall were gone.


	11. Chapter 11: Sirius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 11 CW: Night terrors.

**Chapter 11: Sirius**

 

Sirius woke up on Wednesday morning feeling more feminine than she had in a very long time. She untangled herself from Remus and got out of bed, putting on a soft black dress and doing a twirl in front of the mirror. In the bathroom she put on makeup, including her favorite dark lipstick, and did her hair in an elegant bun. She was dancing into the sitting room when she heard Harry screaming on the couch. Another night terror, she thought as she ran over.

Careful not to touch him, she said, “Harry. Harry! You’re dreaming. Wake up! You’re safe, just wake up.”

Harry’s eyes shot open and he jumped, “Sirius?” he whispered.

“I’m right here,” she said from beside him.

Harry’s hand reached out towards her and she stayed still as his hand landed on her waist. Sirius saw Harry’s eyebrows crease in confusion as he touched the soft fabric and followed it to its end.

“Sirius?” Harry asked, “are you wearing a dress?”

Sirius’s heart skipped a beat. Remus was the one who was good at explaining things, what if Sirius’s fluidity made Harry uncomfortable. What if-

“Sirius?” Harry repeated, sounding almost worried.

“Er, yes.” answered Sirius, “yes, I am wearing a dress.” she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“Okay,” Harry stated, “why?”

“Erm, cuz I… I’m, you know how I’m supposed to be a bloke and all?”

“Supposed to be?”

“Well, society says I should be, but sometimes I just don’t feel that way. Sometimes I feel like a girl, or like I’m not a boy or girl at all, or like I’m both, or-”

“So, are you a girl today?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Sirius whispered old insecurities and rejections haunting her.

“Okay.” Harry said simply.

“Okay?” asked Sirius, laughter escaping her. “Just okay? Ha! You really are James’s son. I don’t know why I was so worried, your father said almost the same thing.”

“My dad knew?”

“Of course! He was my best mate, he knew all about my gender and my relationship with Remus.”

“You and Remus were together back then too? How come this is all so secret then? If it’s always been this way, you’d think people would know.” Harry sounded genuinely confused.

Sirius smiled, “Well, like I said about two blokes being together, it’s not all that common. Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t okay with it.”

“I thought you just said you weren’t a bloke,” Harry’s eyebrows knitted together.

“It’s complicated, but regardless of how I see myself, most wizards will still see me as a bloke.”

“Why aren’t people okay with you being...?

“Genderfluid,” Sirius supplied, “and people aren’t okay with it for some of the same reasons that people aren’t okay with muggle-borns.”

“Prejudice?” Harry asked.

“Exactly.” Sirius said, a sense of pride filling her. Harry really was a great kid.

 

After a long conversation about gender, sexuality, and romantic orientations, Harry had expressed to Sirius that he was a little bit confused with his own sexuality. So, Sirius made sure Harry knew that if he ever had any questions, he could come to her and Remus for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so genderfluid Sirius is one of my favorite head-cannons, and I just couldn't make Sirius cis.  
> Spoiler alert: Draco may not change his pronouns, but he's definitely going to play around with gender presentation. I'm not quite sure how he'll end up identifying though.  
> Also, fun fact about me: I'm genderfluid and my pronouns are they/them/theirs! <3  
> -Xan


	12. Chapter 12: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 12 CW: PTSD, panic attack, flashback to past child abuse, psychogenic seizure.

**Chapter 12: Harry**

 

On Wednesday, Harry was excited to take the muggle boot off his left leg and try walking around without his crutch. In his right hand, he held his white tipped cane, and he used his left hand to grip the arm of the chair he was sitting in, to help push himself up. As he stood, he realized the pain in his leg was gone, so he took a step forward, putting all of his weight on his left leg, and immediately crashed to the floor. Harry yelled out in surprise and heard someone run into the room. 

“Harry? What happened?” Came Sirius’s voice.

“I er, tried to walk without my boot and crutch. Madame Pomfrey said I could today, and my leg doesn’t hurt anymore, but it couldn’t hold me up, so I fell.” 

He heard Sirius sigh beside him. 

“Sirius? What pronouns should I use today?” Harry asked, feeling much more informed after yesterday’s chat. 

He had learned more from that conversation than he did when Professor Sprout had come over to catch him up on what he missed in her class.

“He/him,” Sirius replied, “oh, and if I don’t tell you my pronouns for the day, you can just use he/him unless I correct you. Do you want a hand up?”

Harry smiled as he reached up and ran his hand through the air before finding Sirius’s outstretched hand. He was pulled to his feet and helped back into his chair before he heard footsteps coming down the hall. 

“Remus?” He called.

“Hey, Harry,” Remus said as he slowly made his way over.

“How are you feeling?” Harry asked him.

“Much better. And I swear I’m telling the full truth this time,” Remus chuckled as he rightly interpreted Harry’s next question.

“I see your leg is still giving you trouble though,” Remus added, as Harry heard him kneel down to inspect it without touching him. “Do you mind if I run another diagnostic charm over you?”

“Sure, go for it,” Harry said, used to the sensation.

“Hmm.”

“What is it?” Harry asked quickly, hoping it wasn’t bad news.

“Well, it appears the bones are mended, but I’m thinking that because most of the healing was done the muggle way, your strength has gone from disuse. I have an idea, but it might feel sort of weird.”

“What is it?” Harry asked hopefully.

“There’s a sort of hard leather brace Aurors sometimes use if they’ve sustained too many injuries to the same body part. It’s magically enhanced to lend strength and support to the body part that isn’t working properly.” Remus explained before adding, “and I know exactly where I can get one.”

 

An hour later, Harry was laying on the floor of the sitting room and Remus was strapping a leather brace over his leg, being careful to touch him as little as possible. He and Sirius were practicing taking deep breaths, in an attempt to learn to calm the panic that being touched caused him. It took five minutes to secure the brace and then Remus stepped back. 

Harry let out one last deep breath, and sat up. He brought his hands down to his left leg and felt that the brace was made of three main parts. One long straight section of the brace wrapped around his thigh, and another wrapped around his ankle and calf. In the middle, there was a sort of hinge, allowing his knee to bend. Harry could feel the magic surrounding his leg, and this time when he tried to walk, he remained on his feet. Harry smiled as he held his cane out in front of him and walked slowly around the room. His steps were less than graceful, and he was pretty sure he looked like he was walking oddly, with at least a limp, but he didn’t much care. He felt like he had his independence back. 

 

_____

 

Things were going so well, that Harry completely forgot his least favorite professor would be coming on Thursday. 

He was therefore caught way off guard when the floo sounded and a cold voice drawled, “Potter.”

Harry tried not to jump, not wanting to show any fear in front of Snape, who’s cloak Harry could hear grazing the floor as the man drew closer. 

“Professor Snape, thank you for coming.” Harry said politely, trying to get on his good side. 

He could feel Snape sneering at him and it made his skin crawl. Snape dropped what sounded like several heavy books onto the coffee table, and this time Harry could not stop himself from jumping.

“I don’t see how I’m meant to teach you like this,” he drawled, “I would hardly trust you near a cauldron  _ with _ your sight.”

Snape paused after insulting Harry, waiting for him to react, but Harry just bit his lip. He refused to give Snape the satisfaction of upsetting him in his own home. Home. Harry’s thoughts strayed from potions as he realized that he now had a place outside of school that he considered to be home. Harry smiled, and that was clearly not the reaction Snape had been going for, because he took a few quick steps and was suddenly far too close for comfort. Harry felt his breathing pick up and the panic start to set in. The sound around him turned to static as he pictured his uncle. The last time someone had stood this near to Harry in such an aggressive manner, Uncle Dursley’s hand had connected with his face. He had been thrown across the room. He had lost consciousness, and awoke to never ending darkness. 

In the distance, Harry heard raised voices and the sound of a fist meeting flesh. He could not tell what was real, as he seemed to float in and out of consciousness. 

After a while, Harry heard a calm voice among the frantic thoughts in his head. He tried to focus on it, but he was suddenly so tired. It felt like ages before he was aware of the cold floor beneath him and his eyes fluttered open. 

“Harry?” Remus’s voice was strained with worry.

“Hmm?” was all Harry could manage as the fog in his head started to fade. 

“Merlin’s arse, you scared us,” said Sirius, taking deep breaths. 

“Wa’ happened?” Harry slurred. 

“You had a psychogenic seizure,” supplied a woman’s voice.

Harry tried to identify the third voice and his confusion must have shown on his face because Remus added, “Madame Pomfrey got here just a moment ago. She caught the tail end of your, er, seizure,” exhaustion seeming to coat the last word.

“Sorry.” 

“Harry, I told you to stop apologizing for this kind of thing,” Remus reminded.

“‘At’s right. Sorry” Harry said before he could catch himself.

Remus just sighed in response. 

 

_____

 

Harry woke the next morning with his head much clearer, although he was still quite tired. The first thing Remus said to him when he entered the room, was an apology for not supervising Snape’s visit. As well as a promise that if Snape ever set foot in their house again, he would be watched like a hawk. 

Sirius walked in and sat down next to Remus.

“Oh, and don’t worry, Harry!” Sirius said brightly, “I punched Snape right in his stupid face, so I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him returning.”

“You did?” Harry’s eyes went wide.

Remus sighed, “yes, they certainly did that. Although they  _ shouldn’t _ have. There are other ways to handle things than with your fists,” Harry got the feeling that Remus was glaring at Sirius as he spoke. 

“What can I say? I’m a person of few words!” they shot back playfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Psychogenic seizures are one of the two types of non-epileptic seizures. One of the ways this can occur is from a very intense panic attack, normally including flashbacks.


	13. Chapter 13: Hermione

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 13 has no content warnings.

**Chapter 13: Hermione**

 

Snape was even more moody than normal on Friday, and he had a black eye. Hermione wondered what happened and knew that he could not have gotten it from a student because no house had lost an excessive amount of points overnight. The moment potions class was over, Hermione practically ran from the room, anxious to see Harry. After quickly making her way out of the dungeons, she turned and saw that she was being tailed by Malfoy. Their eyes met. Knowing he was caught, Malfoy ran for a few steps to catch up with her. 

She continued walking just as quickly as she impatiently asked “what do you want, Malfoy?”

“I want to know where Potter is. He doesn’t just think he can take an extra vacation, does he?” Malfoy sneered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and mumbled that she too wanted to know where Harry was. At that, Malfoy grabbed her arm to stop her walking away. She tugged it back out of his reach. 

“You don’t honestly think I’d believe that the golden boy ran off and didn’t even brag to his friends about where he was going?” He spat.

“What’s it to you, Malfoy? I thought you’d be glad to have him gone.” she demanded loudly, losing her patience.

She saw him flinch back at her words, and briefly wondered if there was a part of him that genuinely cared. Whatever Malfoy’s problem was, she didn’t have time to deal with him at the moment, so she turned on her heel and walked off towards Professor McGonagall’s office. 

 

Ron was already in the office when Hermione arrived, slightly flustered and out of breath. He shot her a questioning look, but she didn’t have time to answer as Professor McGonagall told her to take a seat and closed the door behind her with a flick of her wand. 

“Harry is currently staying with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black,” McGonagall began, voice turning somber as she continued, “it seems he was being severely mistreated at his Aunt and Uncle’s house.” 

Hermione had suspected as much, but she had to remind herself to breath as her fears were confirmed. 

“He was attacked by his uncle and has not yet fully recovered.”

“Professor, if Harry is seriously injured, why is he not in St. Mungo's?” Hermione asked.

“Mr. Potter requested Remus’s help because he wanted quiet and confidential care. If he had gone to Mungo's, it would have been all over the papers.” 

Hermione nodded her understanding, “Okay, can we see him now?”

“Yes, Mr. Potter wishes to explain the rest by himself,” Professor McGonagall said as she stood and crossed to the fireplace, “oh, and be sure not to touch him.”

Hermione’s heart sank as she thought up several different theories for why she couldn’t touch Harry, each more depressing than the last. 

 

Stepping out of the floo, Hermione found herself in a small, open concept home. Harry was sitting on the couch, and she could see Sirius making tea in the kitchen.

“Sirius,” Harry called without turning to look at him, “someone’s here!”

Hermione tilted her head to the side as she wondered why Harry didn’t seem to recognize her.

“It’s Hermione,” Sirius replied as he walked into the room, setting the tea on the coffee table. She noticed that he was wearing a leather jacket and a torn black skirt and briefly wondered if she was using the wrong pronouns for Sirius. 

“Hermione!” Harry’s face lit up.

Just then, Ron came through the floo and she jumped out of the way so he wouldn’t run into her. 

“Ron’s here too now,” Sirius added.

Wheels started to turn in Hermione’s head to explain why Harry could not recognize his two best friends.

“Harry?” she asked softly, “what’s going on?”

The smile slid off his face as he patted the couch cushion next to him and said, “come sit down.” 

Hermione sat, but made sure to leave enough space that she wouldn’t touch him. Ron seemed oblivious to Harry as he stared at Sirius’s skirt with his mouth open and flopped into a chair. Hermione looked closely at Harry, who looked tired but mostly fine. There were a few new faded scars on his face, but they were small. He did, however have a brown brace on one of his legs, and his glasses were missing. The only other strange things were that he wouldn’t look at her, and that she wasn’t supposed to touch him. 

“Your blind,” she stated, rather than questioned.

“Yes,” said Harry, “but it’s alright. I’ve got one of those canes blind muggles use, and I’m getting pretty good at using it.”

Ron’s mouth fell open. “Wait, so like, you can’t see anything?”

Surprisingly, Harry just laughed, “That’s generally what it means, yes.”

She was surprised at how well Harry was doing with this.

“How long has it been?” she asked.

Harry scrunched up his face in thought, “About… Well, it happened sometime in the last two weeks of July, so I suppose it’s been just over a month.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Ron sounded hurt.

“I spent most of that time in a muggle hospital, and I wasn’t really sure how to get in contact when I couldn’t even get out of my hospital bed. I only got here a few days before term began and I wasn’t really doing well enough for visitors. It was only two days ago that I got this leg brace so I could really walk around,” Harry said before adding, “and I didn’t want you to worry, so I waited until I was doing a bit better so you could see that I’m going to be fine. I’ll probably even be back in school next month! There’s just a few things I need to learn and some accommodations to figure out, but the professors have been stopping by to keep me caught up,” he smiled and Hermione was sure he had previously planned out exactly what he was going to say to them.

“Well,” said Hermione, smiling back, “If you need any extra help with the coursework, you know that I’d love to help you with it.”

Harry laughed, “same old Hermione.”

 

_____

 

Hermione talked with Ron and Harry for another hour before Ron commented on Sirius’s clothing. 

“Er, Sirius, what are you wearing?” He asked bluntly. 

“Ronald!” Hermione interrupted, “don’t be rude! There is nothing wrong with wearing a skirt.”

Sirius’s cheeks turned pink, and Remus answered, “Sirius is genderfluid. They don’t really subscribe to the idea that people have to wear certain clothing due to the type of body they have.”

Hermione nodded, taking notice of the pronoun used for Sirius. 

Sirius was looking down and rubbing at the back of their neck awkwardly, “er, and I suppose since you two will probably be seeing a lot of us now, you should probably know that Remus is my boyfriend.”

Hermione’s smile grew and she clapped, “I thought so! I’m so happy for you two!” 

Remus smiled at her and nodded, “thank you, Hermione.”

“Wait. I don’t get it,” Ron said scratching his head, “like, how does that work?”

“Ron!” Hermione yelled out, embarrassed. 

She turned to Remus and said, “don’t worry about him, I’ll teach him about this stuff when we get back to the tower tonight.”

“What?” he asked defensively. 

She answered him with a frustrated sigh and shook her head, thinking about how the wizarding world really needed to have more conversations about queerness. She wondered if she should try to start a club for it at school, realizing for the first time that purebloods struggling with their sexualities and genders would probably feel very alone and confused. 


	14. Chapter 14: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 14 has no content warnings.

**Chapter 14: Harry**

 

The days went by slowly. It felt strange to be away from Hogwarts in September for the first time in years. Even stranger was the knowledge that everything that always happened at Hogwarts, was happening without him. 

Ron had stopped by to tell Harry that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had made Ginny their new seeker. He said she was pretty good at it, but not as good as Harry had been. Harry smiled thinking that even though he couldn’t play anymore, at least Ginny finally got to take the spotlight. She really was a great player and he could think of no one who deserved that spot more than her. 

Hermione came by to rant about how awful their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was. After hearing so much about her, he was sort of glad that she had refused to come to Remus and Sirius’s house to teach him. Remus was more than capable of helping him keep up on his DADA work, since he had previously taught the class. 

 

_____

 

“Hey Remus?” Harry asked one night.

Harry heard Remus close a book he had been reading, “hmm?”

“How come the new Defense Professor makes you nervous?”

There was a pause before Remus replied, “and how do you know she makes me nervous?”

“Well, whenever she’s mentioned, you take a sharp breath in, and then you stop joining into the conversation.” 

Remus laughed, “you really are becoming a lot more observant, you know?”

“And you’re trying to change the subject,” Harry added.

“Okay, you got me,” Remus paused, “Dolores Umbridge is not a big fan of people like me. I think that’s why she refuses to come here to teach you. She knows of my condition, and” he cut off again as if unsure how much he should tell Harry, “and she is quite vocal, at the Ministry, about her opinions on Werewolves.” 

“So, she’s prejudiced against you because you’re a werewolf? But, surely, she knows werewolves only turn once a month? Why would she avoid you the rest of the time?”

“She does not see us as human on any day of the month, and she’s not alone. That is a fairly common viewpoint among wizards. She describes us as half-breeds and monsters,” Remus said so quietly that by the end his voice was no more than a whisper. 

Harry scooted closer to Remus on the couch and found his hand, squeezing it as he said, “you are not a monster, Remus. I’m so sorry for the way they treat you, it’s not fair.” 

Remus’s voice was thick, but Harry could hear the smile in it when he replied, “thank you, Harry, for always seeing the good in people. Don’t ever lose that.”

 

_____

 

After a bit of searching, Remus and Sirius found a blind witch to come teach Harry some tips for navigating the wizarding world without sight. Astra Maybell was a half-blood who had grown up in both the muggle and wizarding world. She had gone blind slowly, and during the year when her vision was going, she had spent her time developing new spells to help the blind. She mixed muggle techniques with magic and had gotten pretty good results. 

Astra taught Harry a spell he could use to improve his cane. She said the spell would last for a few months, before it needed to be reapplied. With the spell, the cane was able to sense where things were, so that he would know about obstacles before hitting his cane on them. She also taught him a spell he could cast on a quill so that it would write what he was thinking. Another spell he found useful was one he could cast on a textbook, letter, or anything else with writing on it, to hear a voice reading the words to him. The sound would only play in his own head, so that others would not hear what he was reading. With these spells, reading, writing, and walking became much easier. 

By far his favorite thing he learned was that with the spell on his cane, he did not even need to use it in the muggle way. He could collapse it and keep it in his pocket and the charm would still help him sense where things were. If the halls were busy and he did not have anyone to walk with, he would still need to take out the cane and use it properly, but if things were staying put for the most part, like furniture, he should have no problem telling where obstacles were. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that he would still require a bit of help to brew potions and do astronomy and divination. The help he would need in the latter two, was thankfully minimal. The only real problem he was running into was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not only was it his favorite class, but it had practical applications he felt he would need for the rest of his life. How would he survive what was to come if he could not defend himself? 


	15. Chapter 15: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 15 CW: Internalized homophobia.

**Chapter 15: Draco**

 

On the last Friday of September, Draco and Pansy were once again hiding out behind the closed hangings on Draco’s bed. Draco had allowed his hair to grow a little longer than normal, and Pansy was conjuring flowers to weave into it. She had already painted his nails blue, and after using a spell to dry them, he was putting her hair in a plait.

“I wonder where Harry is,” he said for probably the twelfth time that week, as he ran his fingers through her dark hair, “not because I have a crush-”

Pansy cleared her throat loudly as if to remind him of their promise to be honest. 

“Okay, fine. I like him, but what the hell am I supposed to do about it? We’re enemies.” 

“You don’t have to be. You could try being nice to him.”

Draco laughed, “Nice? Really? I’m not allowed to be ‘nice’ to Potter. Do you have any idea what my father would do to me if it got out I liked ‘The Boy Who Lived?’ He’s the reason the Dark Lord is gone and the reason so many people ended up in Azkaban.”

“People won’t think you have a crush on him just because you’re nice to him, Draco. And you know what? I’m going to prove it,” she said smugly. 

“Prove it? How?” 

“I like Granger. So, I’m going to start being nice to her. I bet you five galleons nobody will think I’ve got a crush just because I stop being an arse to her.” 

“Fine, but if you’re wrong, it’s your funeral,” Draco said, shaking his head, “oh, and hand me a rubber band, your hair is done.”

He tied off her hair and as she turned around to face him she added, “besides, if Granger and I become friends, nobody will think it’s strange if you hang out with us and talk to Potter. That is if he ever gets his arse back to school.” 

Draco frowned, “I’m worried there’s something wrong with him. I know we can’t trust the rumors, because those will have you believe he’s dead, or that he joined a pack of werewolves. But I do think he must be unwell or something, to still have not made it back to school yet,” he sighed, “Merlin! I shouldn’t even care!”

“Draco, it’s okay to care about other people. Forget what your father told you, caring doesn’t make you weak,” she said, taking his hand in hers. 

“I just wish we weren’t so alone with all this shit, you know? Like, if I liked a girl I wouldn’t have to hide it all the time.”

“Well… about that. Now, don’t bite my head off, just listen,” Pansy started slowly, “what if we weren’t alone. What if there was a group of students here at Hogwarts who were gay, and whatever else, and they all just met up? To like, get to know each other and talk? I know it sounds dangerous, but I heard Granger’s the one starting it, and-”

“-and you want me to come with you,” Draco finished flatly, “I can’t, you know I can’t. My father-”

“Fuck your father! Draco, don’t you ever want to live your own life?” Pansy demanded. 

Draco bit his lip, “I-I don’t know. I don’t know what I want. I mean, I don’t want to lose my family, but I also don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not forever. I’m just not sure I’m ready to make that decision yet.” 

“Fine,” Pansy conceded, “but I’m going to go. I’ll let you know how it goes, and when you’re ready, you can join us,” she smiled at him, “I know you’ll choose the right thing, but I suppose it’s okay to take your time. Just don’t take too long,” she elbowed him playfully. 


	16. Chapter 16: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 16 CW: PTSD, vague mention of past child abuse.

**Chapter 16: Harry**

 

Harry was nervous to go back to Hogwarts. He did not want anyone to treat him differently, so he decided he would just act like everything was normal, and perhaps he could get by with minimal people learning of his injury and subsequent disability. Logically, he knew he could not fool people for long, but he figured it was worth a shot if only to put off awkward conversations until he was a bit more settled in at school. His leg was getting better and if he slept with his brace on, the magic in it would still lend him strength, so that during the day he could walk without the brace most of the time. He still had a limp, but was getting a bit better at hiding it, and he could now navigate the house without using his cane in the muggle way. 

He knew he was physically ready to return to school, but was not sure if he was mentally prepared. He could touch people for the most part, but still freaked out when they touched him. He had learned how to manage his panic attacks, but feared that if someone got too close in an aggressive manner like Snape had, or actually hit him, he would not be able to stop himself from having a larger scale panic attack. 

On Sunday, Remus gave him a necklace to wear under his robes. It had defensive magic in it and would stop any hexes or other low-level magical attacks that might hit him in the halls, since he would not see them coming. With his cane and wand in his pocket, he stood in front of the fireplace with Remus holding Hedwig’s cage and Sirius carrying his trunk. 

“Ready?” Remus asked.

Harry almost nodded then stopped and turned towards Sirius, “actually, could you get my glasses from my trunk?”

Sirius found his glasses, “here you go, but you know they won’t make a difference.”

“I know, I just don’t want anyone to look at me weird, and I might stick out more if I showed up without my glasses on.”

“You know they will all know eventually, Harry.” Remus said carefully.

“I know. I just- I’m not ready yet.” he said softly.

The three of them used the floo and walked into Professor McGonagall's office, brushing ashes off their robes. 

“Welcome back, Harry!” came Hermione’s excited voice. 

“Hey Hermione,” Harry smiled, stepping towards her. 

“Master Harry Potter, sir!” a high voice squeaked.

“Dobby?” Harry asked.

“Yes sir! I am to be taking Master Harry Potter’s things to his room sir!”

“Ah, well thank you, Dobby.” Harry smiled.

There was a loud crack and Harry figured that Dobby had taken his trunk to his room, and Hedwig to the owlery. 

“Harry, if you need anything, just send us an owl or come to Minerva’s office to floo us,” Sirius said. 

“Alright,” Harry felt a swell of joy that he had real guardians who cared about him for the first time. 

“Hermione will take you to Gryffindor tower, and I have already given her your class schedule,” said Professor McGonagall.

With that, Harry took Hermione’s arm and they left.

“The halls feel empty, so that's good,” noted Harry letting out an anxious breath. 

“Most people are busy trying to catch up on all the studying they didn’t yet do over the weekend,” Hermione said as if that was the worst idea she had ever heard. 

Harry just laughed, feeling lighter.

Thankfully he made it up all the stairs without incident, with Hermione telling him which ones to skip. They stopped in front of a wall and Harry knew that the Gryffindor common room was behind it.

“Since nobody’s in the halls-” Hermione started.

“-The common room is going to be full,” Harry finished, taking a shaky breath, “just take me right to my dorm as quickly as you can, okay?”

“Alright, ready?” she asked.

Harry nodded and gave the Fat Lady the password. The sound of many voices reached his ears as the portrait swung open. Hermione helped him through the portrait hole and the room fell silent, then erupted with cheers and shouts.

“Harry” several people yelled.

“He’s back!”

“Where were you, mate?”

“-told you he didn’t join a pack of werewolves.”

Hermione pulled him through the crowd and someone slapped him on the back, in what was meant to be a friendly way, but sent Harry’s heart racing. Hermione stopped and Harry could feel with the magic from his cane that there were people blocking their path.

“Excuse us!” He heard the Weasley twins yell in unison as they pushed through the crowd.

“Step aside please! Harry wants to get to his room. You can all bombard him with questions later!” 

Harry was grateful and sent a smile in the direction of their voices as the path in front of him cleared and Hermione took him up the stairs to the boy’s dormitories. After climbing the stairs as quickly as he could, which was rather slowly, he was thankful when Hermione stopped him and opened a door. He walked in and asked Hermione which bed was his. 

“Harry!” Ron yelled as Hermione led him to his bed.

“Hey Ron,” he answered, then whispered, “is anyone else in here?”

“Nah, it's just the three of us,” Ron said lightly. 

Hermione put his class schedule on his nightstand and left after saying goodnight. Harry had just sat on his bed after putting on his pajamas when he heard people enter the room. 

“Harry!” Neville yelled.

“Where’ve you been, mate?” asked Dean.

“Ron wouldn’t tell us what happened to you,” Seamus cut in.

“Er, hey guys. Don’t worry, I was just- er, sick. But it was like really contagious…” Harry started, realizing he had not planned what to tell people.

“Harry,” came Neville’s voice, “you’re an awful liar.”

“Yeah, it's just us mate, if you don’t want us to tell anyone we won’t.”

“Were you on some sort of secret mission?”

Harry laughed at that last one, “no, there wasn’t a secret mission. It just- it’s hard to talk about is all… Er, I guess I should start by saying that my Aunt and Uncle have never really liked me and my life at their house hasn’t really been the greatest…” 

Harry felt someone sit on the edge of his bed and realized it was Ron when he spoke, “you don’t have to tell them everything you know. I know it makes you uncomfortable. Do you want me to just give them a short explanation?”

“Sure, thanks,” Harry said turning his head down towards his fidgeting hands.

“Harry,” Neville said, “they didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“Er, yeah they did,” Ron answered for him, “they hurt him pretty bad, so he was in recovery for the last two months. Only one injury is permanent though, but it’s taken some getting used to-”

Harry took off his glasses and turned his head to face his roommates, “I’m blind.” 

“But- but your eyes look just like they always ‘ave. Aren’t blind people’s eyes supposed to be all faded looking?”

Harry shrugged, used to Seamus’s bluntness, “I don’t really know what they look like, but I’ll take your word for it that they’re still green.”

“Don’t be a git, Seamus,” said Dean. 

“What? I was just curious,” Seamus defended.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Neville said quietly.

Ron finally spoke again to say, “we should really come up with a better story for where you’ve been though.”

At that everyone laughed, and they started planning, eventually settling on the simple half-truth that he had been unwell but was now feeling better and ready to come back to school.


	17. Chapter 17: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 17 has no content warnings.

**Chapter 17: Draco**

 

Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table for breakfast on Monday morning when the Great Hall suddenly grew quiet. He looked up and saw Potter walking to the Gryffindor table, holding onto Granger’s arm with his head held high. Draco felt a wave of jealousy. Were Granger and Potter together now? Potter appeared to be perfectly fine, except for a slight limp that Draco could tell he was trying to suppress. Draco watched meticulously as Potter spilled syrup on his robes and Granger cleaned it off with a napkin. 

Draco had known Potter was straight, but it hurt to see him with Granger especially after he had accepted his feelings towards the other boy. Shit, he thought, what would Pansy do when she found out how close Granger suddenly was to Potter? It was okay for Draco, he knew he would never get to be with Potter, but Pansy had actually wanted to get to know Granger. Potter had ruined it for her like he always ruined everything. Draco stood up and shoved angrily through the doors of the Great Hall.   
He did not need to be in class for another fifteen minutes, but he arrived early at the Potions Lab and entered to see his godfather pacing anxiously in a way he had never seen before. Looking around to ensure they were alone, Draco walked up to the pale man.  
“Severus?”  
The potion master’s head shot up.  
“Ah,” he said calmly schooling his face into a mask void of emotion, “Draco, what do you need?”  
“You were pacing. What’s going on?” Draco asked.  
“Nothing that concerns you, Mr. Malfoy.” He said coldly.  
Noticing the way Severus was addressing him, Draco turned to see the first of his classmates entering the room. Huffing out an annoyed breath, he turned and took his seat.   
Draco noticed that when Patil entered the room and went to take her normal seat in the front, Severus turned her away and confusedly she found another seat further back. What was that all about?  
Finally, Potter arrived once again on Granger's arm and Severus motioned for them to sit at Patil’s normal table. Draco’s teeth clenched. So now that Potter was back, he was to be receiving special treatment? He had never thought the potions master of all people would sink so low. This must have been on Dumbledore’s orders, but why?   
As class progressed and Draco brewed his own potion, he also made sure to keep an eye on Potter and Granger. She kept cutting ingredients for him and helping him and the professor was obviously pretending not to notice. Anger was boiling within Draco and he spoke before thinking.  
“Professor, Granger has been doing Potter’s work for him,” he accused.  
Severus’s eyes fixed him with a gleam of emotion, perhaps it was anger, “Mr. Malfoy, you _will_ learn to mind your own business. Five points from Slytherin,” he hissed.   
Draco blinked, “Sir?”   
“Is five points not enough?”  
The room was silent and Draco returned to his potion. What the hell was going on? Severus never took points from Slytherin if he could avoid it. Why on earth was he protecting Potter? Draco decided he would need to tail Potter after class to see if he could figure out what was going on.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter today, I know. However, tomorrow's chapter will be worth the wait. It's a chapter people have been requesting, and this is the set up for it before the switch in perspectives!


	18. Chapter 18: Severus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 18 CW: Panic attack, PTSD, reference to past child abuse.

**Chapter 18: Severus**

 

Class with Potter had been a disaster, but not for the regular reasons. He should have known Draco would notice his strange behavior. What he had really not expected was to be called out by him during class, in front of the other students.

“Class is dismissed. Mr. Malfoy, please remain here for a moment,” he said as soon the clock indicated class time was over.

Once the room was empty, Severus closed the dungeon door with a flick of his wand and Draco was unable to hide his surprise. 

“I will tell you this one time, and I suggest you listen. Stay away from Potter. You are not to confront him, follow him, or draw attention to him. Is that understood?”

Draco’s mouth fell open. 

“Draco!” he hissed, losing his patience, “is that understood?”

“Right, yes. Of course,” Draco said quickly, trying to cover up his shock.

Honestly, Severus thought as Draco turned and left the room at a fast pace, he had expected better composure from a Malfoy. Perhaps he would have to give him lessons on that himself. 

When the door closed again, Severus sank down into his desk chair and put his head in his hands. How had he managed to mess things up so severely?

 

He thought back over the events of the past month. First, he had entered Albus’s office as Minerva furiously pushed past him, clearly having just fought with the Headmaster. Albus had then informed him that the Potter boy had been injured and that he would not be returning for school until October. Albus had expected him to go to Lupin and Black’s house to teach the boy. Then, in true Dumbledore fashion, as Severus turned to leave, he passively mentioned the boy’s lack of eyesight. Severus had just assumed it would be temporary, not even thinking for a moment that Albus would not exploit every resource at his disposal to fix the problem. 

Severus remembered imagining later that night, how the beloved ‘boy who lived’ had even managed to have such an accident to put him out of commission. Surely, he was somewhere being pampered, but he had still managed to injure himself. He had thought for the hundredth time that Albus’s faith in the boy was misplaced. 

 

Severus then thought again of the early September day that had been plaguing his mind ever since its occurrence. He had been in an awful mood after being called to the Dark Lord’s side early that morning. He had had to endure Wormtail’s ramblings for an hour and when he had gotten back to Hogwarts, Longbottom’s cauldron had managed to boil over. He was ready to snap by the time he grabbed his books and some floo powder. Arriving in Lupin and Black’s home, he was pleased not to see the werewolf or his mangy mutt, knowing that Black could easily put him over the edge. 

He had walked towards Potter who was sitting on the couch and greeted him politely. Potter had never been polite to him and he wondered if he was being mocked. He had moodily dropped his books onto the coffee table, and when the boy jumped he had lost his patience. How the hell was he meant to teach a kid who could not even see to read a book? Potter had been dangerous at best around a cauldron with his sight, and he did not have the patience to deal with him. Severus remembered having thrown a careless insult Potter’s way and when the boy smiled in response he had thought for certain that he was being mocked. He had taken a few quick steps towards Potter, and as he opened his mouth to speak, he had seen the child’s eyes widen in panic. Confused, he looked him over fully for the first time and what he saw made his stomach turn. A response like this one did not come from a spoiled child, it came from an abused one, a fact he knew all too well. He saw a leg brace and light scarring across his face, but what worried him most was the full-blown panic attack the boy had now succumbed to. 

He had stepped forward to try and help when he heard rushed footsteps and a hand grabbed his robes from behind and pulled. He fell backwards and Black had pulled him to his feet.

“You will never lay a hand on my godson!” the man had yelled before punching him in the face. 

Black had then pushed him back towards the fireplace, and he had seen Lupin trying to talk to an unresponsive Potter. The boy’s shaking turned into full body convulsions and the werewolf had yelled for Severus to get Pomfrey. 

Severus could not remember the last time he had run so fast. Pomfrey had looked so horrified at an urgent summons to Lupin’s house that Severus wondered what else the Potter boy had been through. After that, all he could remember from that night that was not a blur, was emptying his stomach in the hospital wing’s toilet. 

Severus shook his head to pull himself out of the memory. Since that day he had not returned to teach Potter and had been waking to nightmares of his father whipping him with his old leather belt almost nightly. He had not seen Potter again at all until that morning at breakfast. He had known that he wanted to apologize to the boy for causing him so much anxiety, but as soon as he had seen him that morning, relying on his friend Granger to even make it to his seat, he had realized he wanted more than to just apologize. He wanted to make it up to him. He now knew that Potter’s sight would never return. The boy’s life would not be easy, although he also now realized it never had been in the first place. He had sworn to protect Lily’s son, but somewhere along the way he seemed to have forgotten that, and he had failed him. He would not fail again. 

He needed to do something as an act of good will, to show the boy that he meant no harm and that he would be there to protect him going forward. Then an idea came to him and he could not help but smile. Potter really wasn’t like his father. He may have been placed in Gryffindor, but he was also a Parselmouth. If the boy were to be allowed a snake, it could communicate with him and warn him of any danger he might miss without his vision. Perfect, a companion and a protector all in one. He would apparate to Diagon Alley that weekend and see what types of snakes he could find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The start of the redemption of Severus Snape.


	19. Chapter 19: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 19 CW: PTSD, talk of past child abuse.

**Chapter 19: Draco**

 

Draco had listened to Severus for the rest of that day and most of the following one, but by the next night he could no longer bring himself to continue to stay away from Potter. He figured that what his godfather did not know would not hurt him. He  _ needed _ to find Potter and figure out what was going on. The severity in Severus’s voice made him think it might be dangerous to follow the other boy, but the Dark Lord was back and there was probably going to be another war soon, so if he was to avoid all danger he would need to promptly lock himself away in a safe house, and that was not about to happen. Danger was everywhere, but he did feel like a bit of a stupid Gryffindor as he snuck out of his dorm after hours with a disillusionment charm. He remembered that Potter had spent a lot of time in the Prefect’s bathroom after hours during the previous year. He did not know how Potter was always able to get in, but he supposed it would not be hard for the golden boy to convince a prefect to give him the password, especially now that his two best friends were prefects. Luckily, Draco was also a prefect, so it would not look too strange if he were to be caught there, even if it was after hours. 

Upon entering the bathroom, he immediately knew there was someone else there. The bath was full of water and bubbles and the room was so steamy that he could only hardly make out the shape of a person on the other side of the large pool. He took a step forward and there was a splash as he stepped in a puddle.

“Hello?” called Potter’s voice, “who’s there?”

Draco froze. Potter had not seen him yet, he could still leave and would not technically have disobeyed his Head of House. 

“Potter,” he drawled, deciding to throw caution to the wind, “what are you doing here?”

“Malfoy. Great, just who I wanted to run into in the bath,” Potter said sarcastically. 

Draco was just glad he was too far away for Potter to see the pink that rose to his cheeks at that statement.

“Yeah, well it’s not ideal for me either. I had hoped to bathe in peace, Potter, but it does not appear that will be happening,” he responded trying to sound irritated, “you’re not even a prefect. Why are you here?”

There was silence for a moment before Potter sighed replied softly, “I needed to get away. There’s just- there are so many people everywhere. I know Ron and Hermione mean well, but I just need to be alone sometimes.”

Draco was stunned, he had not been expecting such an honest and sincere response and now felt like he was trespassing on a private moment. 

“Oh, right. I guess that makes sense, but I thought you rather liked the attention,” he accused.

Potter laughed loudly, “Merlin, Malfoy you really do know nothing about me. I hate all the bloody attention. I always have, but everyone just goes ahead and assumes that I  _ love _ being famous for having had my family murdered,” he said bitterly.

“I suppose I never really thought about it like that,” Draco admitted, heat rising to his face again.

“Figures,” Potter responded, and although the fog was still obscuring him, he could hear the eye roll in his voice.

Draco walked to the edge of the water, slipped off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants, and sat on the edge of the pool, letting his feet fall into the hot soapy water. 

Potter jumped at the sound, “Malfoy, what are you doing? Did you just get in the water?” he sounded scared and it was so un-Potter-like, “where are you? I’m fucking naked in here, in case you hadn’t noticed!”

Draco raised his hands in surrender, but Potter was not looking at him and seemed slightly frantic.

“Potter, does it look like I’m in the water? I just put my feet in, what the hell are you freaking out about? And I can’t even see you with all this fog, so obviously I’m not perving on you,” he said, then added for good measure, “seriously Potter, I don’t want to see you naked any more than you want to see me naked.” 

Even with the fog, Draco could see Potter’s face turn red at that and he wondered if he had been wrong about him dating Granger.

“So… you and Granger, huh?” he tried to ask casually, running his feet through the water.

“Me and- what about her?” Potter seemed honestly confused.

“Well, you’re dating, aren't you? Not that I care, it’s just that I’ve got a bet with Parkinson and I want her to pay up.” 

Potter laughed, “Merlin, no!” he shuttered, “I mean, I love her, but she’s like a sister to me!” he seemed thoroughly creeped out by the idea, and Draco’s heart leapt. 

“Oh. Then, uh, why do you keep holding arms or hands with her or whatever?”

Potter’s face fell, “that’s none of your business, Malfoy. I really don’t know why I’m even talking to you, you hate me.” he spat bitterly.

“Okay, touchy subject, I got it, damn. But, just for the record,” he stopped, knowing he should not finish his sentence but wanting to so badly.

“But what?” Potter prompted.

“Well, I- I don’t actually hate you,” he finished quickly, before he could talk himself out of saying it.

A moment of silence stretched between them.

“I don’t hate you either,” Potter practically whispered, swimming slightly closer to him. 

Draco’s heart skipped a beat. What the hell was going on? Was Potter saying what he thought he was saying? Draco swallowed and Potter seemed to remember his lack of clothing. 

“Er,” Potter said, swimming back to his corner, “could we perhaps continue this conversation when I’m a little less naked?”

Draco laughed, “yeah, I- I’d like that. Er, I’ll turn around so you can get out and put your clothes on.” he said as he quickly removed his legs from the water and turned around to pull his socks and shoes back on.

Behind him he heard Potter lifting himself out of the water and struggled not to picture him dripping wet. 

He heard Potter wince and almost fall and then heard him fasten his belt. 

“Okay, you can look now,” he turned and saw Potter buttoning his shirt and noticed he had almost all of his weight on his right leg.

The world seemed to go in slow motion as Potter took a step to walk around the pool and his left leg buckled under the pressure, sending him to the ground with his hands out to catch him. Without thinking, Draco ran to help him. 

“Potter! Are you alright?” he did not even try to hide the concern in his voice.

Potter groaned, “ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have been out this late without my brace. It’s my fault for being an idiot,” he said self-deprecatingly. 

“Brace? What’s wrong with your leg?” he asked, kneeling down in front of Potter, who would not look at him.

“I’ll help you get to the hospital wing, it doesn’t look like you can make it there on your own,” he said.

“No. I don’t need to go to the hospital wing. I just need to get back to my dorm,” Potter said pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“Potter, look at me. You can’t even stand! How the hell are you going to get to your dorm when I can only get you to the entrance of your common room?” he asked incredulously.

Potter froze, still not looking at him, “I can’t.”

“Yes, I know you can’t walk, that’s why-”

“No,” Potter cut him off, “I- I can’t look at you.”

What the fuck? He had just said he didn’t hate him, but now he couldn’t even stand to look at him?

“Well, excuse me for trying to help-”

“No, not you! I can’t look at anything, Malfoy! I’m blind.”

Draco froze. He stopped breathing and felt his heart pounding in his ears. He let out a shaky breath.

“That- that’s why you haven’t been at school. Merlin, Potter! What the hell happened to you?” 

“Erm, I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but my aunt and uncle have always been really abusive and I guess my uncle got carried away one night and-” Potter motioned to his body and Draco saw scars and other signs of trauma. 

Perhaps he and Potter had more in common than he had previously thought. 

“My father, he- no. I shouldn’t speak negatively of him.”

“Draco, it’s okay. You can talk to me, does he hurt you?”

Draco’s heart practically leaped out of his chest when Potter- no Harry, said his name. 

“He has the house elves do it. He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty,” Draco whispered as though afraid he’d get caught. 

Draco watched as Harry reached out his hand and felt around before finding Draco’s thigh and patting it to comfort him. Harry, who had been so severely abused, was comforting  _ him _ . 

“Here, let me help you up. You can lean on me for support, but can you even lead me to your common room when you’re…”

“You can say blind, Draco,” Harry laughed as his hand found Draco’s, who helped him to his feet, “and yes, sight or no sight, I know the way back to my own common room.”

Draco blushed, embarrassed for having asked.

 

It had taken them fifteen minutes to get to a portrait of a rather large woman, which Harry said the Gryffindor common room was behind. When they had opened the portrait hole, they had been greeted by an upset Granger who had helped Harry inside and scolded him for running off on his own without telling anyone. 

As Draco walked back to the dungeons he was slightly jealous of how much Granger cared for Harry, but he realized now that she loved him in a platonic and almost motherly way. Harry had only been walking around on her arm so that she could get him where he was going without bumping into anyone. Secretly, he wondered if, after their strange interaction tonight, he might have a chance with Harry after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, school is starting back up. I'm in my last semester at university and things are about to get really busy. I will update as much as possible but don't be surprised if I post once or twice a week, instead of one or more times per day. I'm so glad to hear so much support for this fic, especially since it is my first one, so thank you for that! <3


	20. Chapter 20: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 20 CW: Panic attacks, PTSD, blood, child abuse.

**Chapter 20: Harry**

 

Harry walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on Wednesday with Hermione at his side. For once he was not excited for what had previously been his favorite class. After hearing about Professor Umbridge from both Remus and Hermione, he was really not looking forward to meeting her. He flinched when he first heard her falsely sweet tone, reminding him a bit of Aunt Petunia.

“Miss Granger, as you are fully aware, we do have assigned seats in this class, and yours is not next to Mr. Potter.”

“But, professor-” she started.

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat and Hermione whispered an apology to him as she got up, leaving him alone in class for the first time since his return to Hogwarts.

Harry felt the panic starting to rise and took deep breaths to counter it. He just had to make it through this class and then he would be safe with Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration, he thought to himself. He could do this.

“Today,” Umbridge said, a smile evident in her voice, “we will be talking about a most vile and dangerous creature. I am sure you have studied werewolves in the past, but I think you’ll find your past education on the matter was not nearly detailed enough.”

Harry’s fists clenched at his sides. He had not been expecting this on his first day in her class.

“Mr. Potter, could you please share with the class the reason these monsters are so very dangerous?” she asked sweetly.

“Werewolves are not monsters ma'am,” he said as calmly as he could, “and they are only dangerous one day a month, but with the wolfsbane potion, they are not dangerous even then.”

“Tut, tut. I’m afraid you have been grievously misinformed Mr. Potter. No doubt by that monster the headmaster foolishly allowed to teach this subject just two years ago-”

“Remus is not a monster!” Harry yelled jumping to his feet.

There was a collective gasp from around the room.

“Detention, Mr. Potter. In my office, tonight at 7pm.”

Harry could hear his heart pounding in his ears and realized she had been baiting him on purpose and that he had just fallen right into her trap. This professor seemed to hate him even more than Snape did. He slowly sat back down in his chair, clenching his teeth to try and stay silent for the remainder of class.

Being alone in the dark, in a room full of Slytherins and fellow Gryffindors with a professor who was clearly out to get him had him on the edge of a panic attack for the rest of class. At some point he stopped paying attention to the lesson all together, in favor of trying to sense where everyone was and making sure nobody got too close to him, knowing he could trust less than half of the people in the room.

“Mr. Potter,” came Professor Umbridge’s voice at the end of the lesson, “I will see you at 7 o’clock tonight. Ms. Granger, please remain behind so I may speak with you.”

Harry stayed seated and slowly put his books away while he heard people leaving the classroom.

“Mr. Potter, I must speak to Ms. Granger in private, so please proceed to your next class on your own,” she said in her sweet tone, and he was sure she knew he needed Hermione to get there safely in the busy hallways.

Clenching his teeth once more, he stood without a word, slung his bag over his shoulder, and started to make his way slowly towards the door. As soon as he got outside the room, he sensed a person near him, but it was too late, they had stuck out their foot and sent him tumbling to the floor. His glasses fell off during the fall and he realized he had no way to find them, since they were too small to register with the enhanced cane in his pocket. He would either have to feel around for them blindly and risk the people in the hall discovering that he couldn’t see, or he would have to get up and leave them there, which would have people wondering why he was not wearing his glasses.

“Potter,” Harry had never been so happy to hear Malf- Draco’s drawling voice.

“Malfoy,” he pretended to be annoyed.

He jumped when his glasses were pressed into his hand and had to remind himself to breath.

“Woah, there Harry, it’s just me,” Draco whispered so only Harry could hear.

“S-sorry, th-thanks,” Harry took another deep breath.

“Are you alright?” concern sounded odd to Harry in Draco’s voice.

“Y-yeah, I just have a problem with being touched. I-I kind of have to be the one to initiate contact. I don’t really know why, it just makes it hard to breath otherwise-” Harry rambled.

“Anxiety,” came Draco’s voice, “I swear I’ll kill you if you tell anyone, but I’ve had anxiety attacks before too.”

Harry smiled, glad for someone who seemed to understand him. He put his glasses back on and took the arm Draco offered him.

“Are people staring?” Harry asked as they started to make their way to Transfiguration, having discovered that Draco had that class next as well.

“Yes,” Draco whispered before adding loudly for people to hear “next time, Potter, get stuck to someone else. We’ll have to have McGonagall sort this out,” Harry could hear the eye roll in his voice.

“Thanks,” he whispered, glad for the other boy’s quick thinking, “yeah, well I’m not too pleased with the arrangement myself, Malfoy. And it’s your own fault for standing too close when I got jinxed!”

“There were assigned seats! Where else was I supposed to stand?”

They continued to pretend to argue until Draco was able to help Harry into his seat. Professor McGonagall even played along and pretended to unstick them when she realized what was happening.

Harry heard her whisper “thank you, Mr. Malfoy. Five points to Slytherin,” before she walked away.

 

_____

 

Hermione dropped Harry off outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts room at 6:55 that night. He walked through the room, sensing its layout, and up the stairs to Umbridge’s office.

“Ah, Mr. Potter. How nice of you to join me. Go ahead and sit down in that desk there.” he figured she was pointing, but thankfully he sensed that there was only one desk in the room besides her large one, so he made his way to it and sat down.

“So, tonight you will just be writing lines for me,” she said sweetly.

Harry bent over to search through his bag.

“No, you will be using one of my quills, so there is no need for your own.”

“Er, Professor, I need my quill in order to write legibly, since I can’t see the paper.”

“Tut, well, we shall have to fix that. Can’t have you getting special privileges forever, now can we? So, the quill you will be using is already on the desk in front of you.”

Harry sighed and reached out feeling his desk and finding parchment and a quill.

“There isn’t any ink.”

“Oh, you won’t be needing any. Just go ahead and write ‘I must not tell lies.”

Harry bit his lip hard to keep from talking back to her. Clearly, she thought so little of Remus that to say he wasn’t a monster was the equivalent of lying in her book.

“How many times?”

“Just until the message sinks in,” she said with a smile evident in her voice.

He started writing, trying hard to put enough space between his letters that they wouldn’t go over each other. He felt a sharp pain on the back of his left hand as he wrote. After writing the phrase 7 times, he shook his left hand, trying to get the weird pain to stop. The longer he wrote, the worse it got. Eventually, he set the quill down for a moment to run his fingers over the back of the hand to see if there was something wrong with it. He felt something damp, and brought it to his nose to smell it. It was blood. He ran his fingers across the hand again and felt indentations. The back of his hand was all cut up with seemingly random markings. Some closer to the knuckles, and others almost all the way down to the wrist. What the hell was going on?

He heard Professor Umbridge get up from her seat and felt her get closer to his desk.

“Now, that just won’t do. Your lines go down to the left when you write and it just makes the words look like a mess of scribbles. I suppose you’ll have to come back tomorrow night to try again,” she sounded so pleased by the idea and it made him sick.

Setting his jaw, he grabbed his bag, walked to the door, and said, “7 o’clock?”

“Yes, that will do nicely.”

As he walked, he pulled the sleeve of his shirt down to cover his hand, hoping nobody would notice it.


	21. Chapter 21: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 21 CW: Blood, mentions of child abuse, mentions of self-harm, PTSD, panic attack, internalized homophobia.

**Chapter 21: Draco**

 

Draco was fulfilling his Prefect duties by patrolling the halls when he caught sight of Harry walking slowly with his head down, perhaps hoping not to be recognized by passersby. Draco, however, had spent too much time staring at him over the years not to recognize him immediately.

As Harry drew closer, Draco saw that the left sleeve of his white button-down shirt was covered in blood.

“Harry!” Draco practically yelled, running towards him.

Harry jumped, but stopped walking and looked up when he recognized Draco’s voice.

“What happened to your hand? Can you show me so I know if I need to take you to the hospital wing?” He asked quickly.

Harry hurried to hide his hand behind his back, “nothing, it’s fine,” he said, trying to smile at Draco, but his eyes went over his shoulder.

“Harry, just show it to me please. I won’t ask how it happened if you don’t want me to, but I need to see it.”

Harry sighed and his shoulders hunched forward as he held out his arm, still covered with the shirt.

“Can I touch your arm to pull back the sleeve?” Draco asked, not wanting to scare him by touching him.

Harry flinched, but nodded.

Draco pulled back Harry’s sleeve and took his hand in his to look it over. He took in a sharp breath as he saw what looked like writing at first, but dissolved into meaningless lines. They were all cut deep into his hand and there was blood dripping all the way down to his fingertips.

“Who did this?” Draco asked angrily, ready to kick someone’s ass.

“Nobody,” Harry insisted.

“What do you mean, ‘nobody?’ Someone clearly did this to you!”

“I did it.” He said softly.

Draco’s heart skipped a beat. He himself had some self-inflicted scars he wasn’t proud of, but he had never thought Harry would do such a thing to himself.

“Why?” Draco asked weakly.

“No!” Harry must have just realized what Draco was thinking, “No, Draco, I didn’t do it on purpose! I swear.”

“What do you mean? There are words carved into your hand. That kind of thing doesn’t just happen by accident.” Draco accused.

Harry bit his lip and paused, as if afraid of being overheard. 

“Nobody else is here. It’s just us. Harry, did someone make you do this?”

Harry closed his eyes and nodded. Draco felt sick, whoever the fuck did this was going to end up in the hospital wing quite soon.

“Who was it?”

“I had detention.” Harry said softly.

“That bitch! That Umbridge lady made you do this?” Draco could not remember the last time he had been this angry. Rage seemed to be coming off of him in waves and it seemed that Harry had noticed, because his face turned white and he pulled his arm back. Harry took shaky steps backwards and hit the wall, sliding down it fast. His whole body was already starting to shake.

“Shit! Harry, I’m sorry! I wasn’t mad at you. I’m angry at Umbridge. I’m sorry I scared you.” Draco knelt down, “Harry, if you can hear me, breathe with me.”

Draco took deep breaths in and out, and soon Harry was following his lead. 

“S-sorry,” Harry said after a while, “I’ve been on the edge of a panic attack all day, I guess it just caught up with me.”

“Don’t apologize, it was my fault. I don’t know exactly what happened to you over the summer, but I should have known it would have involved a very angry person being near you. I didn’t think, I just got so mad. I was going to go give whoever hurt you a piece of my mind, but when I heard it was a professor I realized I couldn’t touch her and I got pissed.”

Harry actually laughed at him, “Draco, I really don’t know what’s going on between us, but you can’t just run off and attack anyone who hurts me. Merlin, you sound like Sirius.”

“Sirius Black? You know him?” Draco asked, stunned and currently choosing to avoid the ‘what are we’ conversation. Why did Harry know his cousin?

“Yeah, he and Remus are my new guardians.” Harry said, his eyes sparkling.

“Oh! That’s why you were so upset when Umbridge insulted Professor Lupin.”

Harry frowned, “yeah. She knows he’s my guardian. She was taunting me on purpose, and of course I took the fucking bait.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. I would do the same thing if someone insulted my mother.” Draco said, trying to comfort him, “but we really do need to do something about your hand. It’s still bleeding. I think you must have cut open a vein or two.” He added seriously.

Harry just sighed and ran his right hand through his hair with his eyes closed. 

“Okay,” he conceded, “let’s go to the hospital wing then, but you’d better not leave me alone with Pomfrey, or she’ll be mothering me all night.” 

 

_____

 

When they entered the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey looked up and, upon seeing Harry, ran over to them.

“Harry! What happened? Are you alright? Come lay down and I’ll cast a diagnostic charm.” 

Draco had never seen the woman treat a student so personally nor be so worried over one. He wondered how often Harry must have been under her care, and how severely he had been hurt to be able to worry her like this just by walking through the door. Imagining what else she must have treated him for in the past made his stomach turn. It must have been pretty awful. 

 

“See what I mean?” Harry asked, smirking in his direction as he sat in a hospital bed. 

The nurse had just gone to check on the other patients. 

“Yeah,” Draco said slowly, “but why is she acting so worried? Harry, are you okay?”

“What? Yeah, I’m fine. You saw my hand, it’s not that bad.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, what else happened, other than the blindness, that has her so worried about you?” 

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. 

“Draco,” Harry said carefully, “it’s not that I’m not happy that we seem to be getting along all of a sudden, but-”

“-but you can’t trust me,” Draco finished for him.

“Why are you being so nice to me, anyway?” Harry seemed genuinely curious. 

“I- Pansy told me to stop hiding who I am, and that I didn’t have to pretend to hate you. I guess I took it a bit far,” Draco laughed nervously. 

“Hiding who you are? Who are you, Draco?”

“I-” Draco looked around the room and there was nobody within hearing range, “I like you,” he whispered.

“I like you in a way I probably shouldn’t, in a way that would probably make you hate me. Your eyes, your ridiculously messy hair, the way you act stupidly brave to protect the people you care about. I’ve liked you for quite some time, so I guess I overcompensated while trying to hide it, and I’ve been a complete ass to you, and I’m sorry,” he said quickly, once again throwing caution to the wind in a way he seemed only to do around Harry.

“Harry? Please say something. Do you hate me? Do you want me to leave?” Draco was wringing his hands nervously, in the way his father always scolded him for.

“Can I kiss you?” Harry whispered.

Draco’s eyes went wide and he stopped breathing for a moment, not sure if this was real. Did Harry Potter honestly like him back? Was this some kind of cruel joke? 

He looked around, and once he was sure nobody was looking, he whispered, “yes.”

Harry’s hand reached out and found his shoulder, before feeling its way upward and cupping his cheek. Harry’s thumb traced over Draco’s lips and Draco’s eyes closed automatically, then a pair of lips pressed to his and excitement raced through him.

Draco deepened the kiss, and when his hand automatically went to the back of Harry’s head, he didn’t flinch. Draco ran his fingers through the thick, curly black hair, but when he heard a woman clear her throat he let go and jumped away from Harry.

Madame Pomfrey was looking down at the two of them in amusement. 

“Don’t tell anyone, please!” Draco practically begged her.

“There is no need to worry, Mr. Malfoy. I do not gossip about my patients. Your secret is safe with me,” she smiled at him and he fell back into his chair letting out a long breath. 

He heard quiet laughter and turned his attention to a red-faced Harry. 

“What’s so funny?”

“You,” Harry laughed, “you jumped like a foot in the air.”

“How do you know how high I jumped? Not like you could see me!” Draco argued.

“I didn’t need to see you, I felt and heard you practically go flying.” 

Draco could not help but join into Harry’s laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of people have been asking why Harry would try to hide his hand. I obviously can't say why he does it in cannon, but in my story he does it for a few reasons.  
> 1\. He does not want to draw any extra attention to himself by filing a complaint against a professor.  
> 2\. He is trying to prove that he can get by just fine on his own.  
> 3\. He doesn't want anyone to worry about his health more than they already are.  
> Of course, he is wrong to hide it, but he will only hide it from authority figures for a short time after this chapter and will do something about it soon!


	22. Chapter 22: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 22 CW: Internalized homophobia, internalized transphobia, use of the word "queer" in a positive manner.

**Chapter 22: Draco**

 

Draco ran all the way back to the dungeons after dropping Harry off at the portrait of the Fat Lady. He stopped to compose himself before entering his common room and searching for Pansy. He found her near the fire and grabbed her hand, wordlessly dragging her with him to his room. As soon as they were inside, she helped him check to make sure they were alone before getting onto his bed, drawing the curtains, and putting up the usual spells to ensure their privacy.

“Draco! Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Pansy seemed anxious.

“I kissed Harry,” he blurted out.

“What!?” she yelled.

“Well, technically he kissed me, but-”

“Draco,” she said more softly, “this is supposed to be good news, so why do you look so terrified?”

“What if he found out? My father, what would he do to me? I don’t know what to do,” his breaths were becoming uneven.

“Draco, just breathe. It will be okay, I promise. And worst-case scenario, if they kick you out, you can live with me. Plus, we’re 15, so it's only two more years before we’re legally adults anyway. But Draco, they don’t have to find out. If you want to come out and be with Harry publicly, I’ll support you and I’ll hex anyone who doesn’t. But, if you want to keep it a secret, I will make sure nobody finds out, and if anyone does I will personally make sure they cannot tell your father.”

“Thanks, you’re right. Of course, you’re right,” he took a deep breath, “I just need to decide if I want to come out or stay in the closet. I’m just so scared, Pansy,” he whispered.

Draco was not sure if he had ever admitted to being truly afraid of anything in his life.

“I know what you need,” Pansy said matter-of-factly.

“What?” he looked up at her.

“You need to come with me to that club Granger has started. The first meeting is tomorrow, and she said the reason she made the club in the first place was to help purebloods who are afraid and are dealing with stigma, since being gay isn’t really talked about in our world,” she explained.

“Ugh, fine. If you think it will help, I’ll go.”

Honestly, he had to hand it to Granger. The purebloods, at least the Slytherin ones, did nothing but make fun of her and call her a mudblood, and yet she wanted to help them. He could see why Pansy liked her so much.

 

_____

 

The next night at 7pm, Draco was surprised not to see Harry in the empty classroom Granger had chosen for their meeting place. Perhaps Harry wasn’t gay after all, and he had just kissed him because he felt bad for him, liking someone he could never have. It had seemed like more than that, though. It seemed like Harry really did want to kiss him, and he had not even flinched when Draco had touched him. Draco was pulled out of his thoughts when Granger walked to the front of the room and cleared her throat.

“So,” she said happily, “welcome to the first meeting of the Diversity Alliance. We can call it the D.A. for short, and since a lot of people here are not ‘out,’ our cover story can be that we are an Alliance for inter-house unity, since there are people here from all four houses,” she smiled at that before continuing, “now, I think we should clarify that this club is for queer people _and_ their allies, so it is not safe to assume that everyone here is queer unless they tell you that themselves.”

A Hufflepuff in the front row quietly raised her hand, “er, what does ‘queer’ mean?”

“Good question, Hannah! Queer is an umbrella term many people use when talking about the entire community of people who are not cisgender or heterosexual. We will be going over some terms today to get everyone on the same page, like ‘gay,’ ‘lesbian,’ ‘queer,’ ‘bisexual,’ ‘pansexual,’ ‘asexual,’ ‘demisexual,’ ‘transgender,’ ‘nonbinary,’ ‘genderfluid,’ ‘genderqueer,’ ‘agender,’ and ‘demigender,’ to name a few! As well as terms like ‘cisgender’ and ‘heterosexual.”

Draco’s head was spinning. He had only known about the word ‘gay,’ what was he getting himself into? This seemed like it would be harder than Charms class, and it was just meant to be a club.

Whispers took off around the room and Granger looked more excited, rather than put-out that nobody seemed to understand what she was talking about. She walked over to the chalk board and wrote ‘gay.’

“Okay,” she said in a teacher-like voice, “who can define the word gay for me?”

A Ravenclaw girl answered her and a definition appeared on the board. A Hufflepuff defined ‘lesbian,’ ‘queer’ just appeared with a definition since Granger had already defined it, the Weasley girl defined ‘bisexual,’ and the strange blond girl from Ravenclaw everyone called ‘Loony,’ defined ‘pansexual.’ Granger had to define ‘asexual’ and ‘demisexual’ because nobody knew what they meant. Throughout the list, he had heard students around him gasp at different words, whispering to their friends that that identity might be the one that best described them. So far, the only one that fit Draco was gay, and that was exactly what he had expected.

When ‘transgender’ was described, it took Granger fifteen minutes just to answer the questions everyone had, since that was such a new concept for most of them. Then came ‘nonbinary,’ and Draco felt anxious, some parts of it seeming a bit too close for comfort. By the time Granger made it to 'demigender,' it was Draco’s turn to take in a quick breath, putting his hand over his mouth. Pansy’s hand found his thigh and squeezed it to try and comfort him, and he knew she was putting the dots together as well. Demigender did not fit him perfectly, but it was damn close. It meant a person who identified partly as one gender, but partly not. Draco could have sworn Granger saw the scared look on his face, before deciding to elaborate further, teaching them the terms 'demigirl' and 'demiboy.' Demiboy did fit him perfectly, and he was not quite sure what to do about it. He did feel mostly like a boy, but not completely. Part of him felt like something else, something undefinable. Apparently, the term to describe this was 'demiboy.' Then it hit him, if there was a word for it, that meant he was not the only person who felt that way. He looked around the room, wondering if anyone else there was feeling something similar. Pansy had been right, this was where he needed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, I can't not write queer characters. So, sorry if you're not here for that. I literally go to school for Gender Studies, Queer Studies, and English. So, Hogwarts is gonna be queer af! 
> 
> The queerness will not be the main focus of the story. However, there will occasionally be chapters like this one and the one earlier with Sirius, in which the characters talk specifically about queerness. 
> 
> Also, if anyone has questions related to gender identity, sexuality, or romantic orientations, feel free to ask me. I literally teach this stuff every day in my real life. You can send an ask to my personal Tumblr: votecrowleyforhell.
> 
> EDIT: I have been getting a lot of questions asking why I included asexuality and demisexuality among the queer terms the characters learned in this chapter. I will start by giving the definitions, and then my justification as to why they are included.  
> Asexual: a person who does not experience sexual attraction.  
> Demisexual: a person who only experiences sexual attraction after a deep emotional bond is formed.  
> Both asexual and demisexual do fall outside of heterosexuality because the person does not experience sexual attraction towards people of the /perceived/ "opposite sex," as heterosexuality requires. While it is true that some asexual people who are heteroromantic chose not to identify as queer, the fact remains that some do, and that there are a LOT of asexual people who are not heteroromantic and that they certainly identify as queer. Therefore, it does not make sense to ignore asexuality and demisexuality in queer spaces, when many of the people there identify with those sexual orientations. I am asexual, polyromantic, and genderfluid and I support every asexual person who chooses not to identify as queer, and every asexual person who does chose to identify as queer. How they identify is up to each individual asexual and demisexual person. I hope that clears up any confusion!


	23. Chapter 23: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 23 CW: Blood, mentions of child abuse, internalized ableism.

#####  **Chapter 23: Harry**

 

Harry could not believe that he had been forced to miss the first meeting of Hermione’s new club, just to sit in Professor Umbridge’s classroom and cut his hand open again. When he had finished, she had again said that his words were not legible, and that he would need to return again the following night. He wondered how he would even be able to tell when his words were legible, and if she would just continue to say they were not, even once they were, since he could not see to correct her. 

Harry left her office, walked through her classroom, and into the empty room next door. He closed the door and sat down on the floor in front of it. The last thing he needed was for someone to see his bloody hand and take him to the hospital wing again, since he did not want to keep worrying poor Madame Pomfrey. 

He used his fingers to check the new injury, there was a lot of blood, so he used the spell he had heard Pomfrey use the night before, to stop the bleeding. Then he vanished the dried blood from his clothes and hand, before applying a glamor charm to hide the cuts, so his hand looked normal. Since he could not see, and the glamor charm only changed appearance and not feeling, he could not tell for sure if it had worked. He would just have to hope that all of the blood was off and that the glamor was properly hiding his cuts, as he made his way back to Gryffindor tower. 

 

_____

 

The next morning, Harry was pleased to remember that it was Friday. He had only been at school for a week, but he was already exhausted. He felt a bit shaky as well, but pushed from his mind the thought that it might have been from blood loss. He had successfully stopped the bleeding the night before, but he did not have any way to get ahold of the blood replenishing potion. So, he just hoped that he had not lost enough blood to make too much of a difference. 

When he and Hermione sat down with Ron in the Great Hall for breakfast, it was unusually quiet.

“What’s up?” he asked the two of them.

“People have been talking about you,” Ron said bluntly as Harry heard him adding food to his plate.

“Gossiping is more like it,” Hermione said bitterly. 

“What’ve they been saying?” he asked, not sure if he even wanted to hear the answer.

“Well, they’ve not figured anything out yet,” said Hermione hopefully, “but they are going to. Don’t you think it would be better coming from you?”

Harry was not sure if announcing his blindness to his classmates would make school easier or harder, so he just turned to Ron without answering.

“Ron, what have they been saying?” he asked determinedly. 

“I guess some people think you spent the summer on a secret mission for Dumbledore, and that now it’s gone to your head and you think you’re too important to associate with the little people anymore.”

“What?” Harry almost spit out his drink, that had not been what he was expecting, “why?” 

“People think you’re ignoring them, when they wave in the hall and you just keep walking, and you’ve not really been in the common room at all, and I guess everyone in Gryffindor thought that when you got back you’d like, tell them where you’d been, or even just talk to them. Even Fred and George seem a bit hurt that you’ve been back a week and not said a word to them, but of course they’ve been defending you to everyone anyway,” Ron said regretfully. 

Harry sighed and put his head in his hands, “right. Well, I guess I can see why they’d think that. Ugh! What am I supposed to do though? Jump up on the table and yell ‘I’m blind!’ to everyone in the Great Hall? Or am I just supposed to start having conversations with people until they ask why I’m not making eye-contact, and then awkwardly explain it to each individual person?” 

Hermione sighed, “No, I suppose not. I guess not everyone can hear it directly from you, but perhaps if you came to the next D.A. meeting and mentioned it there, you could get a feel for interacting with people again before it spread to the rest of the school. Why didn’t you come last night?” she added, sounding hurt.

“I got detention, again.”

“Harry! You didn’t fight with Umbridge at Wednesday’s detention, did you?”

“No! I wasn’t fighting. I stayed quiet most of the time, but she had me writing lines and said they letters got all messed up after the first row. So, she said I should try again.” 

“Lines? She knows Dumbledore approved for you to only use your enchanted quill as an accommodation! That woman is awful. You should report her for discrimination,” Hermione said hotly.

Harry was glad he didn’t mention that she had him writing with his own blood. He could handle Umbridge on his own. 

“I don’t want special privileges, Hermione,” Harry said sighing.

“Accommodations are  _ not _ privileges! They just level the playing field.”

“And when has my playing field ever been ‘level?’ Voldemort's been after me since I was a baby! So, what’s a bit of writing in comparison to that?”

“Listen, if you don’t want to report her, that’s up to you, but there is nothing wrong with making your life a bit easier when it can be. You have a lot to deal with,” she said kindly.

“No, you’re right about accommodations being useful, I just don’t want to deal with reporting anyone right now,” Harry said before adding, “and about the D.A., I definitely want to join, and not just to support you.” 

“Oh, finally, he tells me!” she replied dramatically.

“Tells ‘ou w’at?” Ron asked around a mouthful of food.

“That he likes Malfoy, of course,” Harry could hear the smile in her voice.

Ron started choking on his food before gasping, “what?”

“Wait, how did you know I liked him? I didn’t even know that until like, really recently.”

“Oh please, you’ve been obsessed with him for years!” she countered.

“No, I- okay, yeah I suppose I have. But if  _ you  _ have all the answers, I guess I don’t need to tell you what happened last night,” he taunted and heard Hermione gasp.

“Um, hello?!” Ron interrupted, “am I the only one who’s really bloody confused right now?”

“Yes,” Hermione answered before returning her attention to Harry, “what happened last night?”

“I kissed him,” Harry said smugly.

“Woah, woah, woah, you did  _ what _ with Malfoy?” Ron said a little too loudly, before adding, “ouch!” and Harry assumed that Hermione had kicked him under the table.

“He kissed him,” she repeated, “we can talk about it later, Ron, but I want to hear about it from Harry right now if you don’t mind. Did he kiss you back?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, unable to hide his smile as he told her about their conversation and the kiss, while leaving out any reference to the Hospital Wing. 


	24. Chapter 24: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 24 CW: Mentions of child abuse.

#####  **Chapter 24: Draco**

 

Draco saw Harry leaving the Great Hall with his friends and ran to catch up.

“Harry,” he said as he reached him, “can I talk to you for a moment?”

Granger wore a mischievous smile and said, “I’ll leave the two of you alone,” as she disconnected her arm from Harry’s.

Harry took Draco’s arm and Draco led him to the nearest empty classroom and shut the door.

Harry was smiling in his direction as the two of them sat down on the floor.

“So,” Draco started, “about Wednesday night…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you not want me to kiss you?”

“No! Not that, that was great!” Draco got out quickly as he felt heat rushing to his face.

Harry let out a relieved sigh, “so then, what’s wrong?”

Draco shook his head, hardly believing that Harry didn’t know what he wanted to talk to him about. How commonly must he have been treated so poorly that he did not see his bloody hand as a problem?

“Detention. Harry, what Umbridge did was not okay,” Draco saw Harry shrinking down into himself a bit, but added, “I know you don’t like him, but I think we should tell Severus-”

“Tell Snape? No way!” Harry looked as though he could not decide if he should be angry at the suggestion, or laugh at the absurdity of it.

“Listen, Severus is my godfather and if I ask him for help, he’ll help, no matter who’s involved. I swear he will make sure that horrible woman pays for what she did,” Draco says, expecting Harry to give in and see sense.

“Snape hates me, he’d just think I’m weak and he’d probably give me detention for being a snitch or something. Besides, it’s over. What’s done is done,” Harry’s words saddened Draco, but if he wouldn’t let Sev help, he’d have to find someone who’s help Harry _would_ accept.

“Fine,” Draco said, “Then we’ll tell Professor McGonagall.”

“Draco,” Harry sighed, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m currently trying to fly _under_ the radar, and going around reporting professors would not really help with that.”

“Under the what?” Draco asked confused.

Sighing again, Harry says “under the radar. It’s a muggle phrase, it basically just means that I am trying not to draw attention to myself.” Draco had almost forgotten that he and Harry came from such different worlds.

He realized then and there that he had never actually had a conversation with someone from the muggle world before Harry.

“Fine, I guess I can’t force you to report it, but if she ever does anything like that again, I’m going directly to Severus.” Draco said hotly.

“Okay, now that’s settled, we should probably get to Potions class.”

“Right!” Draco jumped up and looked at his watch, realizing there were only five minutes until class started.

This time, as they walked through the halls with Harry’s hand on Draco’s arm, they did not pretend to fight, and if any of the few people who were still in the halls gave them a strange look, the received a glare from Draco in return and hurried on their way.

 

When they arrived at Severus’s classroom, Draco looked in and whispered to Harry that there was a clear path to his empty seat in the front of the room. Harry slowly walked to his seat as Draco took his own regular seat.

After class, Severus asked to see Draco right away, and asked Harry to come by at one o’clock the next afternoon. Draco had known that the two of them entering the classroom at the same time would not go unnoticed but he had not thought Harry would get in trouble for it. After all, it was just him who was told to stay away from Harry.

As the last student left the room, Draco made his way up to his godfather's desk.

“Draco,” Severus said, unsurprisingly closing the door with a flick of his wand, once again, “I thought I made myself quite clear when I said you were to stay away from Potter.”

“Right, and I was, but then we sort of- er, we sort of became friends?” Draco mentally scolded himself for allowing the last word to come out as a question.

“Friends?” Snape echoed, and it was clear that this was not what he had been expecting.

“Yeah, he-” Draco cut off, his eyes going wide, “wait- you knew he was abused, you knew about the blindness! That’s why you wanted me to stay away from him, isn’t it?” Draco demanded.

“Yes. I did not want you discovering his secret and ‘outing’ him before he was ready. Why did he tell you about this, of all people?” Severus asked suspiciously.

Draco had to force himself to keep a neutral face as he thought about the irony of the word ‘outing’ in their case.

“I don’t really know. I mean, we ran into each other in the bathroom one night and I guess we sort of bonded,” Draco said before realizing how that sounded, turning red, and quickly adding, “like, we were talking, I mean!”

Severus narrowed his eyes at him, and Draco shifted under his gaze.

He could tell Severus suspected something more was going on, but he nodded his head and said, “very well. You may go.”

Draco rushed out of the room and ran to the nearest bathroom to compose himself before walking calmly back to his dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wait for a professor to find out and do something to stop Umbridge is almost over! A prof will find out next chapter, but unfortunately things get worse before they get better. So, hang with me for a bit here. The good times are coming!


	25. Chapter 25: Severus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 25 CW: Blood, mention of possible self-harm and suicide attempt (there is no suicide attempt, it is a misunderstanding, but the topic is brought up).

#####  **Chapter 25: Severus**

 

Severus had been held up in the castle after a potions incident with the first year students in his last class of the day, so it was already half past seven at night, when he made it to The Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. They had a selection of four different snakes, two of which were poisonous. Walking over to the two non-venomous snakes, he saw that there was a Python and a Milk Snake. The Python seemed too large, so he took a closer look at the Milk Snake. There was a sign beside it’s tank, which read:

 

_Milk Snakes can grow to be 51 to 152 centimeters long (20 to 60 inches)._

_This one is 76 centimeters long and fully grown (30 Inches)._

_Milk snakes are often mistaken for being poisonous, due to their_

_red, black, and gold coloration, but are completely harmless to humans._

 

Of course, the snake best suited for the boy would be the one that just happened to be in Gryffindor house colors, Severus thought as he rolled his eyes. It would be good for people who did not know much about snakes to think it was poisonous. That way they would give Potter more space. However, it was also important that the snake was actually harmless, or else Dumbledore would probably not let the boy keep it with him in the halls.

By the time Severus had purchased the snake and enough supplies to keep it well fed and healthy for at least a month, it was eight o’clock. So, he apparated into Hogsmeade and started the long walk across the grounds and back into the castle.

 

At twenty past eight, he was walking through the halls on his way back to his dungeon chambers, when he noticed something red on the ground outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Taking a closer look, he realized it was a trail of blood. Pulling out his wand, he followed the trail to the next room over, where a bloody handprint was smeared across the door. He set down the travel tank and supplies by the wall and tried to gently push open the door. There was something in front of it, not allowing it to open, so he threw his weight into it and was able to push it open, moving whatever was blocking it easier than he had expected. The room was dark, so he cast _lumos_ and looked inside. It appeared to be empty, until he looked down at what had been blocking the door.

The ground beneath his feet was red with blood and Harry Potter’s pale, still body appeared to be the source.

“Shit!” Severus jumped into action, rushing around the door.

He dropped to his knees and felt the blood soak into his robes. He felt for a pulse, and sighed in relief when he found it. Then he looked for the source of the blood. The boy’s left arm was covered in it and, wiping some away, he found that it was coming from the back of his hand. There were hundreds of cuts across the top of his hand, and the three biggest veins were cut open.

Severus felt sick, realizing that the wounds looked intentional. Perhaps the boy was struggling even more than Severus had thought. He cast a charm to stop the bleeding, which by that point was at least not coming out in spurts like it must have been earlier to leave this much blood everywhere. Then he cast another charm to clean the blood from the floor and door so that nobody would see it. He lifted Potter off the ground with ease and called a house elf to take the snake and supplies to his office. Then, he made a split-second decision to take the boy to his chambers instead of the hospital wing. He did not want it getting out that the boy who lived, had made an attempt on his own life, if that was what this turned out to be. Plus, he had stronger potions in his supply closet than could be found in the hospital wing.

 

Upon reaching his rooms, he laid Potter down on the couch and got to work. He vanished the remaining blood and administered a blood replenishing potion, as well as a potion for pain. He then rolled up his sleeves, knowing that even if Potter woke up he would not be able to see the dark mark on his arm, and set to work healing the cuts on his hand.

Thirty minutes later, he had closed all of the cuts, applied an ointment of his own making, and wrapped Potter’s hand in bandages. He then picked him up and transferred him to the bed. Severus put up a charm that would alert him when the boy woke up, and tidied his rooms so that there would be nothing for him to trip on once he did get up. After feeding the new snake, he laid down on the couch and closed his eyes, exhausted with the day he had had.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today you get two chapters because I cannot leave this here without telling you what actually happened from Harry's perspective.


	26. Chapter 26: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 26 CW: Blood, PTSD, talk of child abuse, talk of perceived self-harm and suicide attempt (again, there was no suicide attempt, it was a misunderstanding).

#####  **Chapter 26: Harry**

 

Detention with Umbridge went on longer than normal on Friday night, but he was finally not asked to return the next night. She seemed to have thought he had learned his lesson at last. 

Harry stumbled into the empty classroom he had used the night before, feeling extremely lightheaded. After closing the door behind him, he leaned back against it and slid down onto the floor. Perhaps Hermione and Draco were right. Maybe he couldn’t handle Umbridge alone, even more importantly, maybe he didn’t have to. 

He ran the fingers of his right hand over his left again, and felt a lot more blood coming out than had the previous times. His wand shook as he tried to cast the spell to close the wounds. Checking again, he realized that the bleeding had slowed, but had not stopped. He was too out of it to cast the spell properly. The last thought he remembered having was wondering if he could make it back to his dormitory, or even to the hospital wing on his own. Then he passed out.

 

_____

 

When Harry regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he was laying on a bed, far too comfortable to be a cot in the hospital wing, or even to be the bed in his own dormitory. He also noticed the smell of freshly brewed potions, mixed with the unmistakable scent of the dungeons. Why was he in the dungeons? 

Then he heard footsteps coming towards him and he flinched back, drawing into himself. 

The steps stopped and Snape’s voice said, “it’s okay. You are safe and I am not going to hurt you. I promise.”

Harry’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He had never heard compassion in Snape’s voice and he wondered why it was there now. 

“I just want to talk to you, is that okay?” Snape asked.

“Er, sure,” Harry replied, still confused.

“Is it okay if I come in and sit in the chair by the bed?” 

“Yeah, okay,” Harry said before adding, “where are we, Professor?”

“We are in my personal chambers,” Snape supplied.

“Why?”

Snape sighed and said, “I was going to ask you the same question. I followed a trail of blood out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and it led me to you, unconscious,” he paused, “what happened?”

Professor Snape did not seem angry. Had he ever not seemed angry? Was this a trick? A trap? Or was Draco right, would Snape help him? 

“Mr. Potter,” Snape brought him back from his thoughts, “was this an attempt on your life?” he sounded sad, another emotion Harry did not expect to hear from him.

“No. No, it’s not like that. I swear,” Harry said quickly, “that’s what Draco thought too, but I swear I never intentionally try to die. It just sort of always turns out like this anyway.” Harry said thinking of all the times he had almost died.

“Draco knows about this? This has happened before? And he didn’t tell me?” Snape was starting to get upset and Harry scooted farther away from him.

“It- it was my fault. He wanted to tell you, but I made him promise not to.”

He heard Snape take a deep breath before saying, “I’m sorry. I’m not angry at you. Just tell me what happened and why it has happened before,” after a moment, he added, “please.”

“I just don’t want to get into trouble. I swear I’ve had enough of it and I don’t want to draw attention to myself so I didn’t want to talk about it, and-” Harry cut off, realizing he was rambling.

“You will not be in trouble.”

“Okay. I-” Harry took a deep breath to compose himself, “I got detention in Professor Umbridge’s class. She insulted Remus and I talked back to her and… her detentions aren’t normal. At least the ones I’ve had with her haven’t been. She wanted me to write lines, but would not let me use my enchanted quill, and the one she made me use- she made me write with my own blood,” he heard an intake of breath, but hurried to finish, “and the first time wasn’t that bad, but she said my words got all mixed up and went over each other, so she’s had me going in every night to do it over. This time I was there for longer and I wasn’t feeling well and then I guess I only made it to the next room over before I passed out.”

“Potter,” Snape started, “this is not okay. This is child abuse-” Snape stopped talking when Harry’s body flinched violently at those words. He knew that what his aunt and uncle did to him was child abuse, but nobody had ever said those words out loud to him before.

“Harry, I-” Snape stopped again, “can I call you Harry?” Harry just shrugged and nodded in response.

“Listen, I don’t know what you went through outside of Hogwarts, but I do know that I did not make your life any easier while you were here, and I’m sorry for that.” Snape’s voice broke as he said “I swore I would protect you, in the name of your mother. I failed you, but if you would be willing to give me a chance, I think you would find we have more in common than you might think.” 

Harry’s eyebrows came together in a look of confusion, “you knew my mother?”

“Yes,” Snape answered slowly, “She was an amazing witch, and the best friend I ever had. Unfortunately, we-” he paused and Harry had the feeling that he was wording the next part carefully, “grew apart, when we were about the age you are now.”

“Why?” Harry could not help but ask in genuine interest. 

He heard Snape sigh, “perhaps this is a conversation for another day.”

Harry frowned but nodded his understanding.

“Anyway, I have something for you. I was going to give it to you when you came to my office tomorrow, but since you are here, I may as well give it to you now.” Snape’s voice grew more distant as he left the room.

Why would Snape have gotten something for him? Snape hated him, didn’t he? No, that didn’t make sense. He said he had been friends with his mother, but all Harry had ever known was that Snape had hated his father. It seemed that Snape was now changing his tune and associating Harry more with his mother than his father. He wondered why. Could it be pity? He certainly did not want pity, least of all from Snape, but it seemed like this was something else. He wasn’t quite sure  _ what _ it was. 

He heard Snape re-enter the room and set something on the nightstand.

“I thought you could use a companion, to help you get around easier on your own. She’s a milk snake and I figured, since you're a parselmouth, she could go to classes and such with you, and perhaps act as your eyes.”

Harry blinked back tears and willed his voice to remain even as he said, “That- that might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Thank you.” 

He felt the snake slither up his arm and smiled, “what’s your name?” he asked her in parseltongue. 

“I have no name yet,” she hissed back. 

Harry hummed in thought, “how about, Juniper?”

Juniper hissed her approval.

“Professor? What does she look like?”

Harry smiled as Snape told him about her coloration, realizing she was the colors of Gryffindor house, with a bit of black thrown in. 

 

A while later, Snape asked Harry who he had been living with outside of Hogwarts. 

“Remus and Sirius, but you already knew that,” Harry said confused.

“No, before them.”

Harry stayed silent, not wanting to talk about the Dursleys.

“Harry?”

“My- my aunt and uncle,” he practically whispered, “and my cousin.”

“Aunt? Not Petunia, surely?” Snape asked, sounding desperate.

“Yeah. You know my aunt Petunia?” Harry asked, scratching his head. 

“Unfortunately, I did know her when she was young, I just can’t believe the headmaster allowed you to say with her,” Snape sounded like he was getting angry again.

Juniper hissed soothingly and Harry didn’t feel the need to hide. 

“Harry, if you will excuse me, I need to have a word with Professor Dumbledore. Please remain here until I get back,” and with that, he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I told you things would get worse before they got better. Now things will finally start getting better for Harry!


	27. Chapter 27: Severus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 27 CW: Manipulation, talk of past child abuse.

#####  **Chapter 27: Severus**

 

Severus marched towards Dumbledore’s office in a fury, and he could have sworn the gargoyle guarding the office jumped out of his way quicker than normal when he snarled the password at it. He did not even stop to knock on Albus’s door before throwing it open and walking determinedly into the room. Albus sat calmly at his desk with his fingers laced together in front of him.

“Ah, Severus. I have been expecting you.”

“Expecting me?” Severus fumed, “you had better not have been  _ expecting  _ the reason I stand here tonight!” 

“Severus, Professor Umbridge is not the first instructor to have given unfair detentions to Mr. Potter, as I remember it.”

“Don’t you  _ dare _ put me on the same level as that woman!” Severus yelled, “have I made mistakes? Yes. Have I been unfair? Yes. But I have  _ never _ tortured a student. Who, in Merlin’s name, does that? It is unacceptable and I demand that she is fired this instant.”

“Come now, Severus. Torture is a strong word. Madame Pomfrey came to me several days ago, reporting a few small cuts on the boy’s hand, and of course I looked into it and found that Professor Umbridge had gone a little overboard in her punishment. She, however, insisted that it was a one-time occurrence, and promised the quill would never be used on any other students.”

“So, you knew what she had done, and you decided to let her have her way with the boy?” Severus was shaking with anger by this point. 

“He must learn to deal with pain and the unjust if he is to survive what lies ahead.”

“He is a  _ child _ , Albus!”

“You sound like Minerva. I had thought that if anyone understood the necessity of preparing Potter for the future, it would be you. I can see I was mistaken.”

“Oh, you were mistaken alright. Either you get rid of her, or I will,” Severus threatened, “and while we are on the topic of you being wrong, how could you let Harry stay with Petunia? She hated magic and resented her sister! What would make you think she would be the right person to take care of her sister’s magical child?”

“Severus, really now, we must think of what is best for the wizarding world as a whole, for  _ the greater good _ . The boy needed to be safe from Death Eaters. He needed to survive to defeat Voldemort. When Lily sacrificed herself for him, she put a protection on him, as long as he lives with blood relatives, Voldemort cannot touch him.”

“And what does that matter if his Uncle is just going to beat him to death anyway? What good is it to protect him from the Dark Lord, when he is living with people who hurt him?”

“If I thought his life would be in danger, living with the Dursleys I would have made other arrangements, but keeping the boy on his toes is not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Not a bad thing? He’s blind Albus! How do you expect him to defeat the Dark Lord now? He is a child, and I see now that you have never had his best interests at heart. He is simply a pawn for you to use. He can never go back to his Aunt and Uncle’s house.”

“Severus,” Albus raised his voice, “it is not up to you to make decisions on Potter’s behalf.”

“Well maybe it should be!” Severus cut in, “all this time, I thought you were  _ protecting _ Lily’s son. I suppose I placed too much faith in you,” he said as he turned to leave, “this is far from over Albus.”

 

After walking out on Albus, Severus made his way directly to Minerva’s office, and pounded on her door. She opened it in her nightgown, with a surprised look on her face.

“Severus?” she asked, “It’s eleven at night. Whatever is the matter?” 

Severus pushed past her and fell into an armchair sighing and putting his head in his hands. 

“Albus,” he stated simply, “Albus is the problem. Professor Umbridge has been torturing Harry, Albus  _ knew _ and he did nothing!” 

“Torturing?” Minerva placed a hand on her chest as she turned pale and fell into the chair across from him, “what exactly do you mean by that?”

Severus took a deep breath before explaining the entire situation to Minerva.

After he finished, he looked Minerva in the eyes and asked, “can I count on you? To stand with me against the headmaster, and go to the school governors to have Umbridge removed?”

“Of course, Severus,” she nodded grimly, lips becoming a thin line and her face set in determination. 

Severus let out a breath he did not know he was holding, and the two of them promptly sent off a letter to the governors, requesting an emergency meeting for the next day, and asking that it remain a secret from the headmaster. They then split up which of them would inform which staff members the next day, knowing they would likely all side with them, even if it meant going against Dumbledore. They all took the safety of their students very seriously, and to be honest, none of them liked the newest addition to the staff anyway. Umbridge was always sticking her nose where it did not belong, and had slowly began accumulating power in a way that made the other professors wary of her. They needed to stop her before things got worse. 

 

Harry was already asleep by the time Severus made it back to his quarters. Severus pulled the blankets up so that they covered the boy properly, turned off the lights, and left to sleep on the couch. 


	28. Chapter 28: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 28 CW: Blood, PTSD.

#####  **Chapter 28: Draco**

 

Draco woke up early the next morning. It was only seven o’clock, but he had been tossing and turning in bed for the last hour. He knew Severus was going to be meeting with Harry early that afternoon, but it was his own fault Harry was in trouble. Harry had not known not to be seen with him, and Draco decided he had to confront Severus and try to talk some sense into him before Harry arrived. He stretched and got out of bed, hoping Severus would be awake already, even though it was a Saturday. He quietly got dressed and slipped out of his dorm without any of his roommates noticing. 

 

Draco found himself wringing his hands again as he approached Severus’s chambers. Stopping in front of his door, Draco took a deep breath and knocked loudly. Hearing nothing from inside, he knocked again. Severus must have been asleep, but it was too late to go back now, as he had probably already been woken up by the noise. He raised his hand to knock again, and his fist remained stationary in the air as the door finally opened to reveal a severely pissed off looking Severus Snape. 

“This is not a good time, Draco,” Severus hissed, “go away.”

“No,” he stepped forward as Severus attempted to close the door on him, “Severus, just let me in, it will only take a moment!”

“What part of ‘this is a bad time’ don’t you understand?” Severus continued to push on the door half-heartedly, but seemed resigned to his fate of Draco’s company. 

Draco pushed past him and saw a pillow and blanket on the couch, as if someone had slept there. He turned back to Severus and noticed his hair was extraordinarily messy and that he seemed to be trying to get a kink out of his neck. 

“Sev, what's going on? Why did you sleep on the couch?” Draco looked towards the bedroom door in curiosity. 

Just then, he heard some sort of alarm going off, and looked back at Severus whose eyes went wide as he muttered about someone being awake. 

Severus then came between Draco and the door, “just wait here, I’ll be right back.” 

Draco huffed but sat down on the blanket covered couch as Severus slipped into his bedroom. His eyebrows came together when he saw the strange assortment of objects on the coffee table, and when he noticed the bloody towel and bandages he stood and crossed the room. Listening outside the door, he heard Severus talking to someone in his room.

“-are you feeling?”

Draco couldn’t make out the quiet response and strained his ears.

“Here. This is another blood replenishing potion.” 

“Thanks,” came a weak voice.

That voice was too familiar, it was Harry’s. Something was wrong with Harry. Draco stopped thinking and burst through the door. Taking in the room around him, he saw Severus sitting at a chair by the bed, in which a pale and fragile looking Harry was laying. As soon as Harry heard him burst through the door, however, he jumped and scooted back so far, he would have fallen off the bed if Severus hadn’t grabbed him by the arm. At the contact, however, Harry’s eyes went wide and he started fighting.

“Harry, Harry,” Severus was trying to calm him down, “it’s okay-”

Draco ran to the other side of the bed, “Harry, it’s just me. It’s Draco. You’re okay, everything’s-” he cut off when he saw a red and gold snake coming towards him and jumped back.

As soon as he had backed up, the snake had descended on Harry, hissing softly. Harry closed his eyes, took a calming breath, and hissed something back to it in parseltongue. 

“Draco?” Harry asked weakly as the adrenaline faded, “what’re you doin’ here?” 

“I just came by to talk to Severus. What happened? What are  _ you _ doing here?” Draco was unable to keep the worry out of his voice and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Severus squinting suspiciously at him. 

“I er-” Harry turned his head down towards his lap and fidgeted with his hands again, and Draco noticed that his left hand and wrist were completely covered in bandages.

“Harry” he breathed out, unable to finish his sentence. 

“Well,” Harry cleared his throat, “I did, er, get help. Like you wanted me to. It’s just…” Harry trailed off.

Severus continued for him, “It is just that he did not  _ ask _ for help. Things continued to progress until help found  _ him _ .”

“You found him?” Draco looked up at Severus.

“Last night, in a puddle of his own blood,” Severus confirmed, and Harry flinched. 

“I swear, I’m going to kill that bitc-”

“Draco!” Severus interrupted, “although I understand the sentiment, you must stay away from Professor Umbridge. I have everything under control and she will not be here much longer. In the meantime, I need you to promise me that you will not confront her.” Severus said sternly.

Draco was shaking with silent rage, but he nodded his head, before turning back to Harry. 

“Severus,” Draco said, trying to get his voice to come out sounding calmer than he felt, “can Harry and I have a moment alone?” 

Severus squinted at him again, perhaps in disbelief, before saying “very well,” and slowly turning to leave the room.

As soon as the door closed, Draco asked Harry if he could join him on the bed, and the two of them sat together in silence for a minute. Draco watched as the snake slithered off the bed and curled up on the nightstand. Then they both tried to speak at the same time,

“Harry-”

“Draco-”

“You go first,” said Harry.

“How many times did you have detention with her?” he asked quietly.

Harry sighed, “three times,” he said, picking at the bandages on his hand.

Draco put his hand on Harry’s to stop him, and Harry didn’t flinch. He weaved his fingers through Harry’s and squeezed his right hand gently. 

“What were you going to say?” Draco asked him.

“I- I was going to apologize. You were right, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you and go for help when you wanted me to.”

“Harry,” Draco said, putting a hand on Harry’s cheek and turning Harry’s head to face his own, “you have nothing to apologize for. None of this is your fault, okay? I need you to believe that.”

Harry swallowed and bit his lip, but nodded.

This time it was Draco whose fingers ran across Harry’s lips, asking if it was okay for him to kiss him. Harry nodded again and Draco leaned in, closing his eyes. Harry’s lips met his own. Draco felt a hand wrap around the back of his head, and fingers tangled into his hair. Then, suddenly, he felt Harry’s lips break from his with a soft but sharp intake of breath.

Draco opened his eyes and took Harry’s left hand, gingerly turning it over and seeing a small amount of blood spreading through the top layer of bandages.

“Harry, your hand is bleeding,” he said worriedly.

Harry blushed and mumbled, “yeah, I’m not supposed to be using that hand. I wasn’t really thinking…”

Draco kissed Harry’s exposed fingers and moved to get off the bed, saying, “I’ll go tell Severus the bandages need changing.”

After applying more ointment and changing the bandages, Severus asked Draco to stay with Harry while he ‘took care of some things.’ Draco figured it had to do with Umbridge and he was happy to help get rid of her in any way he could, even if it meant he would not get to confront her himself. 


	29. Chapter 29: Severus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 29 CW: Talk of child abuse, ableism, violence.

#####  **Chapter 29: Severus**

 

Severus felt slightly uneasy about leaving Draco and Harry alone in his chambers, knowing they used to be sworn enemies, but that seemed to have changed. Now he could tell they were not enemies, and found himself wondering if they were even just friends, or if it was something more than that. Whatever their relationship, he did not have time to ponder it.

 

He had made his way through the list of professors he was meant to inform about the meeting with the governors more quickly than he had expected. Thankfully, they had all taken the side of young Harry Potter over that of Dumbledore.

He did not need to meet up with Minerva for another forty-five minutes and he allowed his rage to steer him in the direction of an unsuspecting Umbridge.

Severus walked briskly through the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and climbed the stairs at the far wall, which led to Umbridge’s office. He knew he should stop and think rationally before entering, but damn did he not want to. He slammed the door open and walked right up to her desk, his black robes flowing in his wake.

“My, my, Severus,” Umbridge tutted, “you sure know how to make an entrance.”

Snape was seething as he looked down at her in her fuzzy pink sweater, adjusting the quills on her desk. He slammed his hand down, and the desk trembled, sending the quills flying. Finally, she looked up to meet his eyes.

“I will give you one chance to tell the truth,” he growled, “how has Mr. Potter been serving his detentions with you?”

“Why, he has been writing lines,” she said sweetly, clearly not appropriately fearful in her current situation.

“And what, may I ask, was the medium he has been using with his quill?”

“Well, I would imagine that he has been using ink. Why don’t you ask him what it looked like and find out?”

In an instant, Severus had rounded her desk and was holding her against the wall by her throat.

“I suggest,” he bit out, “you think harder, and answer my question yourself. Or are you not aware that the child is blind?”

He finally saw the flicker of fear in her eyes, which he had been looking for.

“I do not… accept… excuses,” she choked out.

Severus tightened his grip, “consider yourself lucky that I am not the one charged with giving out your punishment, Dolores.”

She put his mouth right next to her ear as he continued to choke her and whispered, “I would be very careful, if I were you. It is not smart to go making enemies with skilled potions masters such as myself.”

“Is that… a… threat?” she wheezed.

“Yes,” he hissed as he dropped her and she collapsed into a pile on the floor.

With that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

 

The meeting with the governors and professors went well, ruling in Harry’s favor. Umbridge was to be removed from her post, and although there was not enough evidence to remove Albus, he would at least be under closer surveillance from then on. They also sent an owl to the Ministry, calling some aurors to the scene. The aurors thought it best to escort Umbridge directly to Azkaban to await trial for abuse of a minor. They assured the professors and governors that she would be receiving a minimum of a one-year Azkaban sentence. Severus went with them to watch the arrest and to relish in Umbridge’s suffering. He watched with a smirk on his face as she was dragged screaming and pleading from her office. This was just the beginning of her new hell.

 

When Severus returned to his chambers, he walked towards the open bedroom door, and looked inside the room. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he was met with. Draco, his pureblood godson, was straddling Harry, and kissing him fiercely. There were two 15-year-old boys making out on his bed. Not just any two boys, but two boys from opposite sides of the war they were about to enter into. This was so, not what he had signed up for.

He stood frozen in the doorway, not sure if he should clear his throat to alert them to his presence, or slip back out of his chambers and pretend he hadn’t seen anything. Owing to the fact that he did not want to have “the talk” with two teenagers, he decided to go with the latter plan. He left and went to his classroom next door, deciding he may as well set up for Monday’s first class and catch up on some grading.

 

Severus looked up twenty minutes later, when he heard footsteps rushing down the corridor. He had hardly a moment to think before Remus Lupin ran into his classroom.

“Where’s Harry?” he asked, slightly out of breath.

“Lupin,” Severus addressed him, “Harry is in my rooms, but what exactly are you doing here?”

“I heard what happened with Umbridge and Harry. I need to make sure he’s okay. I suppose I was informed because I am to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor until another can be appointed.”

Severus rolled his eyes, “of course you are,” he had gotten rid of the Defense professor he had hated, in exchange for the Defense professor he disliked.

Severus led Lupin to his chambers, hoping Draco and Harry were done engaging in their previous activity, which Severus really did not want to think about. Looking into his bedroom, however, he saw the two boys fast asleep.

Lupin looked puzzled, “what is Mr. Malfoy doing here?” he asked quietly.

“The two of them have grown quite close recently, and I asked Draco to stay here and watch Harry while I was away,” Severus replied.

Lupin hummed in response as he walked into the room and ran a diagnostic charm over Harry. Apparently satisfied that the boy was in no immediate danger, he walked back into the sitting room.

“Do you mind if I wait here until he wakes up? I would like to speak with him.” Lupin asked.

“Fine,” Severus sighed, “you may sit on the couch and wait. I will be in my office if Harry needs anything.”

Lupin simply nodded in response and Severus could see in his eyes how much he cared for the boy. Perhaps they would need to get along better, eventually, if they were both to care for Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like I will now only be able to update once a week for a while. School is getting really intense as I work on my undergrad thesis. But worry not, once things calm back down, I will go back to posting more often!  
> -Xan


	30. Chapter 30: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 30 has no content warning.

#####  **Chapter 30: Harry**

 

Harry woke to a sound so strange he thought he must still be dreaming. It sounded like Draco was talking to Remus in the next room, but why would Remus be here? The talking stopped and he heard footsteps coming towards him, the charm Snape had put up to alert him when Harry woke must still be on. 

“Harry,” that was definitely Remus’s voice.

“Remus? What are you doing here?” he asked, confused.

“Well, I heard Hogwarts had a vacancy for a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, so here I am. More importantly, how are you feeling, Harry?” Remus asked kindly.

“A vacancy? Where did professor Umbridge go?” 

“Oh, has nobody told you?” Remus asked, “she went to Azkaban, where she cannot hurt anyone else.”

“Oh,” Harry remained silent for a moment as he processed that, before brightening up at the prospect of having Remus teach him again.

“So, do I have to start calling you Professor Lupin again?” he asked smirking.

Remus laughed, “only in class. But really, how are you doing?”

Harry’s smile fell a bit, “I’m doing better than previously,” he said honestly. 

Remus sighed and Harry felt the bed shift as he sat down on the edge. 

“Harry,” he said, “if anything like this ever happens again, please tell Sirius and I. We will always be here for you, and we just want you to be safe and happy. Especially now that I will be staying at Hogwarts more often, if you need anything, please come to me for help.”

Harry simply nodded, and Remus added, “now, that’s out of the way, what’s going on between you and Mr. Malfoy?” Harry could hear the smile in his voice.

Laughing, Harry said, “I guess I’ve been found out then,” he blushed and added, “Draco and I, well, I’m not sure what we are, but I guess we’re sort of seeing each other?” the last part came out as a question.

“Huh, the last time I checked, the two of you did not really get along. What changed” Remus asked curiously.

“I guess  _ he _ did. He’s not really the huge prat he pretends to be. He was just trying to do what was expected of him, but now he says he’s given up on being ‘the perfect Malfoy,’ in favor of being himself.” Harry explained.

After that, Remus warmed up to Draco pretty quickly.

 

By Monday, Harry was feeling much better and was up and about again, having spent Sunday wearing his leg brace. By the end of the first school day, it was clear that the students were overjoyed to have Remus back teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and to be rid of Umbridge. 

 

On Tuesday morning, Hermione told Harry that the next Diversity Alliance meeting would be that evening, since the D.A. had decided to meet twice a week on both Tuesdays and Thursdays. Harry was so nervous about coming out with the news of his being blind, that he almost forgot he would also be coming out as not straight, and quite possibly as Draco’s boyfriend since the two of them had decided that they were officially together. Somehow, with the blindness conversation weighing on him, the latter two sounded easy. Before the meeting, he made sure that Hermione and Draco knew that he planned to tell the D.A. about his blindness, since they would both be there with him. 

Hermione insisted they arrive at the meeting early to arrange some floor pillows in a circle for the group, and had Harry sit between her and Draco. Harry noticed that Hermione shifted when the door opened and someone walked in. 

“Pansy,” Hermione said with a strange tone to her voice Harry had never heard, “you can sit next to me if you’d like.”

“Sure!” Parkinson sounded pleased at this and Harry blinked in confusion. Had he missed something between the two of them? Since when did Hermione call Parkinson by her first name? Listening in for a moment, he realized they were flirting and he felt his cheeks turn red as he turned to Draco.

“The two of them?” he whispered, “is there something going on there?”

“Probably,” Draco whispered back.

The door opened again and Harry heard footsteps as more people came into the room, which was now starting to fill up quickly by the sounds of it. Harry just kept his face down so that he wouldn’t accidentally look at anyone. 

After a few minutes, Hermione got everyone’s attention to start the meeting.

“Hello everyone, and welcome to the second ever meeting of the Diversity Alliance. I thought we could start out by going around and saying our names and pronouns. Please remember that people may not be out, so different names and pronouns will only be used in this room unless the person says it is okay to address them as such when you see each other in classes or in the halls. I’ll start and then we will go to Pansy and make our way around the circle. My name is Hermione and my pronouns are she, her, hers.”

“Pansy, she, her, hers” came Parkinson’s voice.

“Luna, she, her hers.”

“Ginny, she, her, hers.”

“Neville, he, him, his.”

“Hannah,” there was a pause before Harry heard Hannah’s voice quietly add “I er, think I want to try using they, them, theirs pronouns.”

“Padma, she, her, hers.”

“Anthony, and er- he, him, his, for now.”

“George, she, her, hers,” George said confidently. 

“Fred, he, him, his,” Harry could hear the smile in his voice at clearly being proud of his twin.

“Colin, he, him, his.”

A nervous voice muttered something and Colin kindly encouraged the person to speak a bit louder. Then, the voice came again. 

“Er, I don’t really know what name I want to go by, but I don’t think I want to be called Dennis anymore, so could you all just use my last name for now?” people must have nodded, because the voice went on, “So then, Creevey, but I don’t know what pronouns I want to use yet.”

After a brief pause, another voice said, “Theo, he, him, his.”

“Blaise, he, him, his.”

Harry got nervous as it came closer to his turn. 

“Draco he, him, his.”

Harry cleared his throat and raised his head, it was now or never, “Harry he, him, his, and I actually have something I’d like to say. Just to get it out of the way quick, I er, want you all to know I’ve not been ignoring you. I know there’ve been some rumors, so I just want to try and set the record straight, or perhaps not  _ straight _ .”

People laughed at that and it gave him the confidence to keep talking.

“It’s true that I’ve been avoiding talking to people, but not for the reasons you might think. I was afraid of being treated differently after what happened and I was still trying to get used to the way things were. Anyway, I guess I’m as ready now as I’ll ever be. I’ve not been ignoring anyone in the halls. I just don’t know who I’m passing or when because I-” he took a deep breath, “something happened over the summer and- I’m blind.” 

Draco took Harry’s hand which was shaking with adrenaline and Harry attempted a weak smile. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This scene will continue in the next chapter, from Hermione's POV.


	31. Chapter 31: Hermione

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 31 has no content warning.

#####  **Chapter 31: Hermione**

 

Hermione scanned the faces of the 14 other students in the room as Harry spoke. When he got to the part about not knowing who he was passing in the halls, a few people tilted their heads in confusion. Once he said the word ‘blind,’ the looks of confusion gave way to shock. For a moment, there was silence, then Hermione saw George smile.

“Well,” said George, “I seem to remember seeing quite a few smiles when I introduce my pronouns, so if you can all get used to my lack of boyhood, I think we can all get used to Harry’s lack of sight.”

“People are smiling and nodding, by the way,” Fred added, and everyone seemed to come back to themselves and realize their mistakes in using nonverbal responses. 

Everyone then said words of encouragement until Hermione saw Colin’s mouth drop open and followed his line of sight to Harry and Draco’s entwined hands. As others noticed Colin’s staring, they too looked, and Draco’s face was starting to turn a light pink. 

“Er,” Draco said facing Harry whose head turned up to face the sound, “it appears we’ve been found out,” he said lifting their joined hands. 

Harry sighed, “Right, and I’m dating Draco, but that part stays inside this room. Okay?”

After muttered ‘okays’ from around the room, Hermione finally saw Harry’s shoulders relax and he turned back in her direction, prompting her to continue the meeting. She decided to split up the room into two discussions, saying she would float between them to make sure everything was going okay. On one side of the room, there would be a discussion about sexuality and romantic orientations. On the other side, there would be a discussion about gender. She told the group to decide which topic they felt more of a need to discuss currently and had them go to that side of the room. 

After a minute of people moving about, Hermione joined the sexuality discussion with Pansy, Luna, Neville, Padma, Theo, and Blaise. Luna was completely in her element and her carefree energy seemed to get Neville and Padma to open up. Pansy kept looking at Hermione when she thought she wouldn’t notice and Hermione was doing her best not to blush. She did, however, notice that Theo and Blaise were not very involved in the conversation and seemed quite nervous. They both kept looking around as if afraid of being caught doing something wrong. 

“Hey,” Hermione said, “I just want to remind everyone that this is a confidential space, and that the door is locked and silenced so nobody can overhear us. This is a place where we can open up and be honest about ourselves,” she smiled at the two Slytherin boys.

Theo looked at Blaise for a moment and swallowed. Clearing his throat softly, he said, “I’m just not really used to talking about this kind of stuff,” he paused, “I thought this was something that was  _ wrong _ with me until now, so I guess it’s just going to take a while for me to come to terms with it and feel like I’m able to share things about myself.”

“How are the rest of you able to be so open?” Blaise added, looking at Luna.

“Well, I suppose I stopped minding what people thought about me a long time ago. So, if people already think I’m odd, what’s adding a bit more queerness to that, you know?” Luna answered dreamily. 

 

As the conversation continued, Hermione left to see that was happening on the other side of the room. The discussion on gender was made up of Ginny, Hannah, Anthony, George, Fred, Draco, and Harry. Colin and Creevey were standing off to the side and she heard their conversation as she passed by.

“See?” Colin was saying to his younger sibling, “I knew you could do it. Everyone here is really nice. Do you think you’ll be able to come on your own on Thursday?”

“Yeah,” said Creevey with a big smile, “George is really cool and says she and Fred will look out for me, so you could go back to the common room now if you want.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later!” Colin ruffled Creevey’s hair and made his departure. 

Creevey joined back up with the gender group discussion just seconds after Hermione had joined the circle. 

Ginny was deep into a side conversation, asking Hannah how they knew they were nonbinary, and holding onto every word. Hermione could tell Draco was listening in as well, while he held hands with Harry who was talking excitedly to Fred. It was the first time Hermione had seen Harry smile so much in a long time. She smiled to herself as she looked towards George who was now talking to Creevey. The young second year student really seemed to look up to the seventh year. She found herself realizing that although George was a prankster, she would also make a very good mentor for the younger student. 

There was no doubt in her mind that this club would help many more students than she had originally imagined. 

 

_____

 

The next few days passed in a blur. At the end of Tuesday’s D.A. meeting, they had made sure people knew that Harry’s blindness was no longer a secret and that they should share it outside of the room so that eventually the whole school would know, and Harry would no longer need to worry about hiding it. She had watched that night as Harry had carefully removed his glasses and pocketed them. She had not seen him wear them since. News spread quickly around the school and by Friday, she was sure everyone knew. Harry had also taken his snake Juniper out with him a few times, and now he was hardly seen without her. Although some people did seem to be making fun of Harry a bit, for the most part students were respectful and minded their own business. That was apart from the staring, of course, but people were always staring at Harry, so that wasn’t much of a problem. As far as Hermione knew, Harry had yet to go anywhere alone since the news had spread, and she was trying to help him gain the confidence to move around the castle on his own. The following weekend, they were allowed to go into Hogsmeade, but since Harry was not ready yet, Draco was staying back at the castle with him. She was so happy that Draco was able to be there for him when she could not be. Hermione did not yet want to tell her friends, but she was planning to go on a date with Pansy Parkinson on Saturday. They just had to wear their hoods up and be careful of where they were seen together. 


	32. Chapter 32: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 32 CW: Internalized transphobia, bullying, violence, seizure.

#####  **Chapter 32: Draco**

 

Draco had spent all of Saturday in the Library with Harry, helping him catch up on the last of his assignments, and by the time they left, Harry was finally caught up. He walked him back to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and looking around and not seeing anyone, he gave him a quick kiss on the lips before walking happily back to the dungeons. As soon as Draco entered the Slytherin common room, he was attacked by Pansy who was dragging him to his dorm. 

“Where have you been? I’ve been dying to talk to you since the minute I got back!” Pansy whispered loudly.

“What? I was just in the Library! What are you going on about?” he asked.

She sighed and pushed open the door, running around looking to make sure they were alone. Then she pulled him onto his bed with her and cast the usual enchantments as soon as she had closed the hangings. 

“Honestly, we are really lucky my roommates are hardly ever in the room-” Draco started but Pansy cut him off.

“I went on a date with Granger!” she yelled, “or actually, with  _ Hermione _ ,” she said emphasizing the name she had never yet said in front of Draco. 

“Oh! Wow! How did it go?” he asked, excited for her.

Pansy looked at him with an expression he had never seen on her face before. She was smiling in such a genuine manner, “it was bloody perfect!” she exclaimed, “well, no I suppose it wasn’t perfect. We couldn’t hold hands and had to keep our faces covered and avoid crowded spaces so we would not be seen together. Other than that, though, at least we got to spend time together, just the two of us. It was wonderful,” she had a far-off look in her eyes, which Draco had come to associate with Lovegood. 

Draco smiled, he was happy to see his friend so passionate about something. 

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “if someone were to have told me that this was how this year would go, I’d have thought for sure that they were high. You and Granger, Harry and I, the D.A., even just the two of us talking genuinely to each other like we used to. Especially me questioning-” he stopped talking and looked down at his hands.

Pansy lifted his chin with her hand so that he was forced to look at her.

“Hey,” she said, “there is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with questioning your gender.”

Draco swallowed and blinked rapidly before responding and giving a small smile, “would you mind painting my nails again, and maybe… maybe teaching me some make-up?” he practically whispered the last part.

“Of course! What could make you think I wouldn’t love every second of that?” she smiled and pulled three colors of nail polish out of her pocket.

Draco laughed, “do you just carry that stuff around with you everywhere?”

“Only when I’m planning on visiting my best friend,” she said shoving him playfully. 

“Here,” she said, “choose your favorite one and you can keep it.” 

He chose the black and she taught him how to apply it himself and then, when it was a bit sloppy, taught him a spell to get the polish off his fingers so that it was just on his nails. 

After that, Draco spent the next hour learning make-up tips from Pansy. His favorite parts were doing his eyebrows, eyeliner, and contouring. He wondered if he’d ever have the courage to wear it outside the small bathroom in his dorm, and sort of doubted it, but it was still fun to learn anyway. 

 

By the time the next Tuesday came around, Draco was glad to see that Harry was feeling a bit more comfortable with his blindness. He no longer seemed to be avoiding walking alone in the halls, as long as they weren’t crowded and he had Juniper with him. However, he couldn’t help but notice that many the other students were treating him progressively worse. Some seemed not to believe his blindness, while others sought to take advantage of it. Draco was being to feel particularly uneasy when he saw the looks in the eyes of many of his Slytherin housemates. There was tension growing in Slytherin House and he could not help but wonder if some of the students would attempt to take advantage of Harry’s perceived weakness in order to get revenge for their family members in Azkaban, who blamed their situation on Harry specifically. He hoped to Merlin that he was wrong, but he could not dispel the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

 

_____

 

On Thursday night, Draco was walking back to the dungeons just before curfew when he heard shouts coming from the corridor up ahead. He recognized the voices of the seventh year Slytherin Quidditch players Warrington and Montague. Looking around the corner he realized there was a crowd of at least fifteen Slytherins all surrounding something on the ground. He spotted Millicent Bulstrode near the back and walked up to her.

“Bulstrode,” Draco demanded in his official prefect voice, “what is going on here?” 

She turned around with a grin on her face, “Potter’s snake got in Montague’s way, so he stunned it, but when he tried to confront Potter about it, he wasn’t paying attention, so some of the upperclassmen decided to teach him a lesson,” she recited excitedly. 

Draco felt sick. How was he going to fight off this many upper class Slytherins to get to his boyfriend? Equally worrying, how could he do it without his father finding out and disowning him? Just as he had started to push his way through the mob, he heard people yelling.

“Shit!”

“What’s happening?”

“We’d better get out of here, come on, run!”

The crowd was dispersing quickly and when Draco caught sight of Harry, he was shocked to find him bloody and convulsing. He fell to the ground next to him, unsure of what to do. 

“Harry,” he tried, but he couldn’t hear him.

Harry’s leg was twisted at an odd angle, his lip was bloody, he had a black eye forming, and his eyes were facing back into his head, with just the whites visible as his body seized violently on the floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Things were looking up for Harry for a while there, but we all know that the boy-who-lived can't catch a break. Once he gets past this, things will get better again, I swear! Also, sorry the chapter is a bit short. It was originally twice this length, but I decided to split it into two chapters because it worked out better that way.


	33. Chapter 33: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 33 CW: Seizure, blood, injuries, panic attack.

#####  **Chapter 33: Draco**

_ Harry’s leg was twisted at an odd angle, his lip was bloody, he had a black eye forming, and his eyes were facing back into his head, with just the whites visible as his body seized violently on the floor.  _

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Draco whispered, taking off his cloak and putting it under Harry’s head.

“Help!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, no longer caring if his father found out, “somebody help! Please! Help!”

Draco heard footsteps running towards him and let out a breath a relief that sounded more like a sob when he turned and saw that it was Professor Lupin. 

“Mr. Malfoy, please go and get Madam Pomfrey right away. We can’t move him while the seizure is still happening.”

Draco stood and ran for the hospital wing without another word, practically tripping in his haste. As he ran, he wiped tears from his face, not having even noticed them falling. He burst through the large wooden doors to the hospital wing and immediately yelled for Madam Pomfrey, who came running.

“What is it, my boy?” she asked, looking him over with concern. 

“In the dungeons. Harry!” Draco was panting and frantic and knew he wasn’t making sense. 

The nurse summoned a calming draft and he downed it and felt his panic melt away before saying, “Professor Lupin told me to get you and bring you to the dungeons. Harry’s having a seizure.”

She put her hand to her chest and said, “of that poor boy, not again!”

“Again?” Draco echoed in disbelief, but shook his head and with the help of the calming draft, was able to focus on the task at hand. He quickly led Madam Pomfrey back to the corridor, taking shortcuts to shorten the trip. He made it back within five minutes and saw Professor Lupin sitting on the ground next to Harry who was still seizing. Draco watched as Madam Pomfrey poured a purple liquid down Harry’s throat.

“Will that stop the seizure?” Draco asked hopefully.

“No, there isn’t any way to stop it, we just have to let it run its course. This will just stop his body from moving as much, so we can put him on a gurney and get him to the hospital wing.” Madam Pomfrey replied as she conjured a gurney and had Professor Lupin help her lift Harry onto it. 

She then looked at Draco over her shoulder and added, “thank you for coming to get me, but we have this handled now, so you can go back to your dormitory.”

“No!” Draco practically yelled, “no, I- I need to stay with him,” he was starting to panic again.

“Mr. Malfoy can accompany us to the hospital wing. I will watch him and make sure he stays out of the way.” Lupin said, and Draco followed them down the corridor thankfully. 

“Fine, but come up here then, Mr. Malfoy. I need you to watch his eyes to see when the seizure stops, since the potion keeps his body still for the most part,” she said quickly. 

Draco ran a few steps to catch up and looked down at Harry’s face as he laid unconscious on the gurney. The only part of his eyes that were visible were still the whites, and Draco took his hand and held it as he walked. 

“He’s awake!” Draco exclaimed a minute later. Pomfrey and Lupin stopped walking and Draco looked down at Harry whose eyes were open, but he looked exhausted. 

“Harry? It’s Draco, I’m right here.”

Harry opened his mouth as if to speak, but seemed unable to. Draco watched his eyebrows come together in confusion, and then a flicker of fear passed over his eyes and he passed out.

After that, Madame Pomfrey and Professor Lupin rushed Harry the rest of the way to the hospital wing and into a private room in the back. Only once Harry was safely moved into the bed did Draco allow himself to be escorted back to his dorm by Severus. 

The next morning, Draco sat with Granger and Weasley in Harry’s private room in the hospital wing. Harry had yet to wake up since the previous night. He noticed Lupin and Black talking to Madame Pomfrey in the hall, and listened intently to hear what they were saying.

“How is he?” Black asked, rubbing at his face.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Mr. Black. It’s pretty bad. The leg we have worked so hard at healing over the last few months has been re-broken in several places. It broke easily, since it was already weak. I have mended the bones to the best of my ability, but this is going to put back his progress with walking. He also had several more broken ribs, which I have already healed. The biggest problems with that are the severe bruising, which remains, and that one of the ribs punctured his right lung. He is having trouble breathing, so I’ve got him on charm that breaths for him while that heals. His split lip has been healed and should not even scar, and the hit to his left eye did fracture a bone in his face, but that has been mended, so the swelling should go down soon.” 

Draco watched as Lupin comforted Black, who hunched over and put his face against Lupin’s chest. It seemed like such an intimate moment that Draco felt the need to look away. His attention was recaptured, however, when Madame Pomfrey continued speaking. 

“Unfortunately, that is not what has me the most worried,” she looked meaningfully at Lupin before continuing, “Harry had another seizure last night. I had hoped it would be a one-time occurrence, but if he continues to have them I’m afraid of what the consequences might be. We have not done many studies on this in the magical world, but I have been reading up on muggle studies in case there are any complications. I think I may need to ask for a specialist from St. Mungo's to look at him. Hopefully, we will not need to transfer him there. I should be able to find someone who would be willing to come treat him here without alerting the press. I just don’t want to risk not getting him the best possible care and having him have to deal with something like brain damage down the road. I am not sure exactly how long the seizure lasted this time, and we will need to come up with a better way to keep track of that in the future, but I think it is possible that it lasted over five minutes. We won’t really be able to judge the effects until he wakes up,” she said the last part quietly so Draco could only hardly hear her, but at her words he looked back at Harry in horror.

Draco squeezed his boyfriend’s hand and swallowed. He would be there for Harry no matter what. A few minutes later, the door opened and Lupin walked in holding Black’s hand. Madame Pomfrey asked him, Granger, and Weasley to leave, saying they could come back after their classes had finished for the day. Draco watched as Granger tenderly hugged Harry’s still body and wiped tears from her eyes. Lupin and Black sat down by the bed as they left. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! I swear it will get better after all of this is over! It will soon become clear why this was necessary to the plot.
> 
> For now, I have been updating every Thursday, but I graduate from university in exactly one month from today, and will then be able to return to updating multiple times per week!
> 
> EDIT: The timeline of events has been changed a bit, including the timeline of the seizure, so if you read this chapter before this edit, you may want to read it again before going on to the next chapter.


	34. Chapter 34: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 34 CW: Temporary paralysis, bullying, mention of violence.

#####  **Chapter 34: Draco**

 

Harry had been unconscious all morning on Friday, and Draco was the first to finish classes, so he sat by Harry’s bed alone that afternoon while Lupin and Black got some food. Juniper was curled up in the sun on a spare pillow that had been set on the windowsill and looked content. Harry’s eyes drifted open and Draco whispered,

“Harry?”

“Mhhmmm” was Harry’s only response for a moment.

“It’s Draco, you’re in the hospital wing.”

Harry slowly and with difficulty asked, “wa happened?”

“You were attacked,” Draco paused and hung his head, “by a group of Slytherins.”

“Not... yer fault,” Harry slurred tiredly.

Draco just kept his mouth shut. He should have done something when he thought the Slytherins were acting strange, he knew he could have prevented this.

“Dray... not yer fault,” he repeated. 

“I should get Madame Pomfrey and let her know you’re awake,” he said, standing and taking one last look at Harry who closed his eyes again as Draco left the room. 

Madame Pomfrey was in her office and came rushing into Harry’s private room upon hearing he was awake. 

Draco stood back as she asked Harry questions like his name, the year, who the Minister of Magic was, and other things of that nature. His answers were slow, but correct, so thankfully he was cleared cognitively. Draco hoped Harry was just having trouble articulating words due to exhaustion, and nothing else. Then she started a physical exam and the results were less promising. When asked to lift his right arm, nothing happened. Harry made a confused face and tried again to no avail. The same happened with his right leg. He was able to move his left arm, but it was slow and shaky. However, when it came time to try and move his left leg, Draco watched helplessly as Harry was hardly able to hold back a shout of pain. 

Madam Pomfrey said it was likely that the seizure had caused a form of temporary paralysis known by Muggles as Todd’s Paralysis. It could last up to 36 hours, and she had decided she needed to keep Harry in the hospital wing for a full week to figure out his mobility with his left leg once the paralysis wore off. 

Harry let out a frustrated sigh and closed his eyes. Draco moved his chair to the other side of Harry’s bed so he could hold his left hand. 

“Dray?” Harry asked as soon as he felt Draco touch him. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” Draco smiled when Harry responded by weakly squeezing his hand. 

Harry sighed again, “sucks.”

“Yeah,” Draco said, gently brushing Harry’s hair out of his face, “yeah, it does.” 

 

News had spread quickly around the school that Harry Potter had been attacked by a group of Slytherins, who took advantage of his being blind. Everyone had also heard about the one hundred points Severus had taken from Slytherin as a result of the incident, bumping Slytherin down from second to fourth place. Montague had been expelled, and rumor had it he was transferring to Durmstrang after the winter holidays. Everyone Draco had privately mentioned to Severus as a bystander had also received two weeks of detentions. Severus was making it quite clear that this behavior would not be tolerated. 

 

Harry had trouble articulating words and moving for the rest of that day, and so many people had come to see him that rumors soon spread around the school that he was paralyzed. Of course, nobody could seem to stop these rumors, even when they had visited Harry themselves and knew it was only a partial and very temporary form of paralysis. By Saturday morning, Draco had begun to notice Slytherins enduring more bullying than normal from the Gryffindors. He even stopped a fight after a third year Gryffindor punched a second year Slytherin in the face. He knew a lot of the Slytherins had messed up big time, but the other houses didn’t even know which Slytherins were involved and were therefore taking it out on all of them. Draco himself, even got spat on as he headed from the Great Hall to the hospital wing to visit Harry. He simply ducked into a bathroom and cleaned the spit off his robes before continuing as if nothing had happened. 

Upon entering Harry’s private room, he was pleased to see him propped up on his pillows and carefully drinking a glass on water with both hands. 

“Mr. Malfoy is here,” he heard and only then noticed Remus was sitting in a chair grading papers. 

“Hey,” came Harry’s voice and Draco looked back at him and saw a smile on his face. 

“Hey, how’re you feeling?” Draco asked as he took the chair on Harry’s other side. 

Harry’s smile faltered for a moment as he carefully found the nightstand and set down his drink. 

“I’ve been better,” he said softly, “but it’s honestly not that bad. Now that I can move around for the most part, things are a lot better. I’m just a bit tired and shaky.”

“How about your leg?”

Harry frowned, “it’s not great. I’m on lots of pain potions though, so I can hardly feel it, but Madame Pomfrey isn’t sure when I’ll be able to walk again.”

“I’m sorry, Harry. I should have-”

“Draco,” Harry cut him off sharply and reached out his hand to touch Draco’s arm and followed that down to his hand. 

Harry gave Draco’s hand a squeeze and turned his face towards Draco’s.

“What happened wasn’t your fault. Plus, you’re the one who found me and got Remus and Pomfrey. I don’t care what you think you could have done to stop this, it wasn’t your fault.”

Draco wiped a tear from his eye with his free hand and looked into Harry’s face. Harry’s eyes were as unfocused as ever, but he could see the sincerity in them. The swelling in his face had gone down too by that point and Draco looked at the lightning scar covering the dark skin of Harry’s forehead, wondering how the boy-who-lived could ever care so much about someone like him. 

“Okay,” Draco whispered. 

He heard the rustling of papers and looked up to see Professor Lupin hurriedly gathering his things. 

“I’ll leave the two of you alone for a while,” he said as he quickly left the room. 

“I totally forgot he was there!” said Harry, blushing. 

“Me too,” laughed Draco.

“However,” Harry said mischievously, “now that he’s gone...” 

Harry’s hand traced its way up and felt for Draco’s face, pulling him closer. Then Harry’s lips caught his in a passionate kiss and he felt a wave of heat course through him. 

“You know,” whispered Draco, “it was in this hospital wing where we had our first kiss, but I’d honestly rather you stayed out of here for a while.”

Harry sighed, “I know what you mean, but this is just the sort of luck I have. Somehow, I always seem to end up here no matter what I do.”

Then, leaning closer to Draco again, he whispered “believe me, I can think of several more interesting places to have a good snog with my boyfriend.”

Hearing Harry call him his boyfriend like that made his face feel even warmer and he was almost glad Harry could not see just how much he was blushing. 


	35. Chapter 35: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 34 CW: PTSD, talk of injuries.

#####  **Chapter 35: Harry**

 

When Monday morning arrived, Madame Pomfrey came bustling into his room, bringing his morning potions.

“Morning dear,” she said brightly.

“Morning,” he replied half in a yawn.

She had him lift a few things and ran her wand over him and happily told him is strength had fully returned in all except his left leg, which was to be expected. 

“So, a Healer from St. Mungo’s will be coming to see you in about 20 minutes. I’ll bring her in when she gets here. Is there anyone you want to be here with you during her visit?”

“Right, er, would you mind getting Remus for me? I’d like to have him here.”

“Of course, I’ll go fire call his office and ask him to come through.”

“Thanks,” Harry said, feeling calmer with the knowledge that Remus would be there with him when he had to face the Healer. 

By the time the Healer arrived, Remus was already sitting next to Harry’s bed. 

“Hello, Mr. Potter. My name is Healer Abbott, it’s very nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Harry said shyly.

“So, let's get right to it.”

Healer Abbott ran a scan a few scans with her wand, and Harry could hear a quill taking down the information. After the full body scan, she did a localized one on both his head and his left leg. 

“Hm, okay,” he heard her mumble before speaking to him, “so, Mr. Potter it looks like there is some internal damage caused by a severe hit to the head. Madame Pomfrey filled me in on the cause of your blindness over the summer, and I would say the seizures are stemming from that same incident. Now, since you have only had two seizures in the last two months, I am not extremely worried about another happening soon, but I do think you will experience more of them eventually.”

Harry shuttered at the thought.

“So, I’ve brought a device with me that I think it best if you wear from now on. It’s a bracelet which I will have you add your magical signature to. It will be able to tell if you are having a seizure, and not only will it time the event, but it will also alert Madame Pomfrey, here in the Hospital wing, to your location so that she can go and get you.”

“Okay,” Harry said nervously, and he heard the Healer step towards him.

“Which wrist would you like me to put it on?” She asked.

Harry couldn’t stop himself from flinching at her proximity, “er, sorry, but do you mind if Remus puts it on for me?”

“Of course,” he could hear the smile in her voice.

Harry took deep breaths, preparing to be touched by someone other than Draco for the first time in a while. He held out his left wrist and heard Remus stand up and get closer to him. 

“Alright,” came Remus’s calm voice, “it’s just me, and I am going to attach this to your wrist really quick, okay?”

Harry nodded, but still flinched when he felt someone touching him. He had to fight with his brain to remember that it was just Remus. Thankfully, as quickly as the touch had come, it was gone. Harry let out a breath he did not realize he was holding.

“Very good,” said Healer Abbott, “now all that is left is to add your magical signature to bind it to yourself. So, go ahead and pick up your wand if you would, Mr. Potter, and tap the end of it on the bracelet.”

“Right,” Harry breathed out, turning to the nightstand and running his right hand across it until it came into contact with his wand. He set his wand on the bed in front of him and ran his right hand over the bracelet on his left wrist, trying to memorize its exact location so he could tap it with his wand. He then grabbed his wand and, after missing once and tapping his wrist, was able to tap the bracelet which grew warm for a moment before returning to a normal temperature. 

“Okay, so that is all that we can do right now in regards to the seizures but, if need be, I can come back and reassess after the next occurrence. As for your leg, I hear you have a magically enhanced brace and I would recommend you continue to wear that, even when you are not yet walking, because the magical properties will help to strengthen the leg. However, I do think that with the repeated damage to this leg, it would not be wise to try and walk on it again so soon, since that could lead to further damage. I know this is going to be difficult to navigate without sight, but I would highly recommend a wheelchair for the time being.”

Harry sighed and leaned forward to rest his head in his hands. There went the independence he had worked so hard to gain back. He heard a slithering sound and relaxed as he felt Juniper curl up in his lap. She could always sense when he was in distress, and he was grateful for her presence. 

Harry was lost in thought but distantly heard the sounds of goodbyes being said and Healer Abbott being walked out of the room. 

“Harry?” Remus asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

At that, Harry lifted his head from his hand, realizing his other hand was absentmindedly stroking Juniper. 

“Hm?” He answered.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” 

Harry swallowed, “I guess I was just thinking that Juniper could help me out. I mean, I was in a wheelchair when I was first learning to use my cane, but it was really hard to use both and I never really got the hang of it. So, this time maybe Juniper can help direct me.”  

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Harry,” Remus said with a smile. 

 

That evening, Remus helped Harry into a wheelchair, after having put the brace back on his leg a few hours previously. Harry wanted to try getting around without Juniper at first, to see what he could do on his own. He had made sure to put his cane in his pocket before getting into the chair, to see how the magic in it would work when he wasn’t standing or walking. Thankfully, he could still sense his surroundings with the magic in it, for the most part. He rolled the chair away from his bed and towards the door of his hospital room. He could sense the open door and tried to roll through it, but the left side of his chair hit the doorframe and got stuck. He rolled back and tried to go forward again, but got the same result since he could not see which part of the chair was hitting where. Eventually, he let Remus push him through the door but then tried to navigate the empty parts of the hospital wing by himself. He ran into the edges of several beds, but figured that he honestly could have done much worse. 

By the time Remus helped him back into bed, Harry was feeling much better about his situation, and even a bit hopeful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update everyone! The last few weeks of classes are kicking my ass. Unfortunately, the next update will likely be late as well. It is going to be chaotic as I write all my final research papers in the next two weeks, but I will do my best to update when I can. Reminder that I graduate on December 15th, so you can expect regular updates after that!   
> -Xan


	36. Chapter 36: Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings will appear at the start of each chapter.  
> Chapter 36 CW: Bullying and minor violence.

#####  **Chapter 36: Draco**

 

Tuesday night meant another D.A. meeting, and Draco left the hospital wing to make his way to the empty classroom they always met in. He was almost there when he ran into two seventh year Gryffindors.

“Well, look who we have here” sneered the larger of the two.

“Malfoy, Potter’s rival. I’m sure you were involved in that attack the other night” said the other.

Draco knew that they would not listen to him, no matter what he said. So, he just held his hands up and took a step back, trying to think of a way out of the situation. Before he could come up with a plan, the bigger Gryffindor lunged at him and punched him square in the nose. Thankfully, it did not break. However, it did start gushing blood all over his robes. Just then, Hermione walked around the corner and took points from Gryffindor for fighting. Once the seventh years were gone, she rushed to Draco’s side.

“What happened!? Are you okay?” she asked urgently, checking him over.

“I’m fine,” he said holding his nose.

“Here, let me stop the bleeding for you.”

 

A few minutes later, they walked into the classroom together with no visible traces of the most recent attack. The room was already close to full, and Draco found himself being dragged to the front of the room by Hermione.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“What has to be done,” she replied determinedly. 

“Attention everyone,” she yelled.

Heads turned towards her and everyone quieted down.

“I’m sure you have all heard about what happened to Harry last Thursday night,” she started, and the room’s occupants nodded grimly.

“Well, have you also noticed any unjust attacks on Slytherins since then?” she demanded.

At first there was only silence and shocked faces. Then a Gryffindor who had not been there the previous week, Finnigan, spoke up. 

“Now how’s that unfair? They’re the ones who went and attacked Harry!” 

“Yes, a group of Slytherins did attack Harry, but that does not mean that every Slytherin at Hogwarts should pay for the actions of a few students!” Hermione reasoned. 

Draco took a step away from her, not wanting to get caught up in her dramatic quest for justice, but at the last second, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back. 

“Draco, how many times have you been attacked this week?” She demanded in front of everyone.

“I’m not sure,” Draco mumbled turning red, “maybe... maybe 5 or 6 times.”

“So, what? He was probably leading the attack on Harry in the first place! Why’s he here anyway?” Finnigan yelled.

At that, something inside Draco snapped. He walked up and grabbed Finnigan by the collar of his shirt. 

Draco stared daggers into his eyes as he threatened, “want to say that again to my face? You think I’d hurt my own boyfriend, huh?” 

“Enough!” came Hermione’s voice, “Draco was the one who saved Harry from the attack, and if even he is getting punched and jinxed for it, that’s messed up.”

“I had to stop a Gryffindor attacking a second year Slytherin a few days ago. I saw the attack on Harry, and the youngest person there was a fifth year. People are just using this as an excuse to beat up any Slytherin they come across,” Draco told the group.

One of the Weasley twins stepped forward and added, “listen, Seamus, you know I’m not usually one to agree with Slytherins, but Draco is right. Fred and I have already stopped two attacks on Slytherin firsties this week, and it's only Tuesday. We need to work together and actually do something to stop this shit from happening in the first place.”

“Right you are, George,” said the other twin, stepping forward as well, “So then, perhaps we could go over some defensive spells that can be used to protect others? Maybe we could even start patrolling in groups?”

“And we’ll need to talk to our housemates and demand they stop the attacks,” the other cut in.

Draco turned back to Hermione, who was smiling widely.

“All in favor of forming an impromptu defense group, please raise your hands,” Hermione said loudly.

Almost every hand in the room went up and Draco felt warm, knowing that all of these people would help him protect the kids in his house. This level of inter-house unity was completely new to him, but he figured if any group was capable of it, it was a queer club led by none other than Hermione Granger. 

Draco saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see Longbottom's hand nervously raise. 

“Yes, Neville?” Hermione asked patiently.

“Er, well, I was just thinkin’ that if we were gonna… well, do a secret defense thing… we should er, find somewhere more private to meet. And I know of a place that’d be perfect.”

Normally, Draco found Longbottom to be annoying, but this secrete room peaked his interest. So, he gave the anxious boy his full attention, perhaps for the first time ever. Neville seemed to gain confidence after a moment and told them all about a hidden room called the Room of Requirement. 

 

That night, as the regularly scheduled social meeting drew to a close, Hermione brought the group together again for a final announcement. 

“Okay, so for now, in terms of defense, I will be giving everyone an assignment” she was answered by groans around the room. 

She held up her hands and continued, “just talk to the other people in your houses and express your opposition to the violence being perpetuated against Slytherin house. Then think of any spells or muggle fighting techniques that might be useful for us to know if we were to start patrols and bring those ideas to our meeting on Thursday.”

“Will Harry be back by then?” Lovegood’s dreamy voice interrupted.

“Yes.”

“Perhaps he could give us some pointers on protection as well then. I mean, he did face He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in June...” Lovegood trailed off and the room fell deadly silent. 

Hermione looked uncomfortable signing Harry up for something in his absence and settled on saying, “I’ll be sure to ask him about it.”

After a pause, she added, “okay, so that concludes our meeting, we will meet in the Room of Requirement on Thursday!”

People began talking amongst themselves again as they made their way out of the room, and Draco walked towards Hermione. 

She looked nervous and said, “look, Draco, I’m sorry about putting you on the spot like that, but I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.”

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes, “I know. It’s one of the things I both admire and hate about you.”

“Aww,” she bumped him playfully, “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Draco scoffed and mumbled “don’t get used to it,” but he was smiling. Sure, she had embarrassed the hell out of him during the meeting, but she was also the only reason the group was now going to start sticking up for the younger Slytherin kids who were getting kicked around, and for that, he was beyond grateful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I not updated in a while, as many of you have noticed. So I'm sorry about that, but thank you all for the wishes of good luck with finals and graduation. It all went well and I officially have my Bachelor's degree! 
> 
> After that, I said I'd update last Thursday and then proceeded to catch an awful flu, which set me back a few days. However, I am working on a lot of new projects now and updates for this fic will not be as plentiful as previously hoped. So please be patient with me as I get my life together, find a new job, start writing an actual book, and get my Etsy and Redbubble shops up to date. (If you want to see my art, you can find me on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/ArtisXan and on Redbubble at www.redbubble.com/people/xanaugust/portfolio)
> 
> Thank you for your support! <3  
> -Xan

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so let me know what you think and tell me about any errors you may find.  
> Thanks for reading!


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